New species of “living fossil” fish found hiding at sight after 150 years

Researchers have found dozens of Trias Coelacanth fossils in British museums. The fish were once combined with reptile bones.

The coelacanth is often called “living fossil”. Once believed to have disappeared millions of years ago, it was rediscovered unexpectedly in 1938 when taken in the Indian Ocean.

Since then, several other specimens have been documented, but their fossil file has remained incomplete. In a recent study, Jacob Quinn and his collaborators of University of Bristol And the University of Uruguay discovered Coelacanth fossils in museum collections that have gone unnoticed for over 150 years.

Triassic seas fossils

The newly identified specimens date from closing stages of the Triassic period, about 200 million years ago, when the region which is now the United Kingdom was positioned in more tropical latitudes.

“During his master’s degree in paleobiology in Bristol, Jacob realized that many fossils previously assigned to the small reptile sea reptile Pachystrophy In fact, Coelacanth fish, “said Professor Mike Benton, one of Jacob’s supervisors.” Many pachystropheus and coelacanth fossils have strange similarities, but above all, Jacob then left to examine the collections of the country, and he found the same error had been committed several times. »»

“It is remarkable that some of these specimens have been seated in museum storage facilities, and even in public exhibition, since the end of the 1800s, and have apparently been ignored or identified as lizard bones, mammals and all that is between the two,” said Jacob. He continued “from only four preceding reports of coracanthes from the British Triassic, we now have more than fifty”.

Jacob has made X -ray scans many specimens to confirm the identifications. The specimens mainly belong to an extinct group of Coelacanthes, the Mawsoniidae, but are closely linked to living fish.

Overview of ancient ecosystems

The co-author Pablo Toriño, a global coracanthes expert, located in Uruguay, has added: “Although the material that we identify occurs as isolated specimens, we can see that they come from individuals of ages, sizes and variable sizes and speciesSome up to a meter long, and suggesting a complex community at the time. »»

“Coelacanth fossils all come from the Bristol and Mendip Hills region, which in the Triassic was a small islands archipelago in a shallow tropical sea,” said Dr. David Whiteside Co-Supervisor. “Like the modern coelacanthes, these big fish were probably opportunistic predators, hiding in the seabed and eating everything they encountered, including these little ones Pachystrophy The marine reptiles, which are ironic since their fossils have been confused with those of the coelacanths for decades. »»

Reference: “Fishs Coelacanthiformmes of the British Rhaétien” by Jacob G. Quinn, David I. Whiteside, Pablo Toriño, Evangelos R. Matheau-Raven and Michael J. Benton, September 7, 2025, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2025.2520921

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