It would be interesting to know: Were the coelacanths outliers among early Devonian fishes or was fish longevity normal back then and they just continue to be long-lived to this day?
Tag: coelacanth
Researchers: Huge coelacanth fish is “not a living fossil”
For all practical purposes, the coelacanth is a “living fossil,” in the sense that it is an example of stasis. It wanders a bit genetically over millions of years but doesn’t change much over hundreds of millions of years. Could we say the same of most vertebrates?