cœlacanth

Noun

coelacanth (plural coelacanths)

1. Any of the class Actinistia of primitive lobe-finned fish in the order Coelacanthiformes—thought to have been extinct for 70 million years until a living specimen was discovered in 1938. Most species are large and plump and they all have bodies covered in tough elasmoid scales that act as armor.
   • Among them were ancient relatives of the piranhas and those popular aquarium fish the tetras, along with garfish and freshwater coelacanths, known as mawsonids.2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 32
   1. Either of the two extant species in this group; the West Indian Ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) or the Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis).