Coelacanths Can Live Past 100, Don't Show Age?
Two-decade study unlocks secrets of "living fossil" fish.
A new study suggests the ancient fish can live up to a hundred years and even longer.
Until 1938, when a coelacanth (pronounced SEE-la-kanth) was found off Africa's coast, scientists had believed the fish went extinct 65 million years ago with a related lineage of prehistoric fishes. (See more coelacanth pictures.)
After the coelacanth's rediscovery, a number of populations were uncovered in parts of the western Indian Ocean and in the western Pacific Ocean. Whether these populations were interconnected was a mystery.
"People kept catching these fish, but that didn't tell us anything about their population, how numerous they were, or if they were maybe simply strays from different parts of the ocean," said study leader
