West Indian Ocean coelacanth: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the West Indian Ocean coelacanth lives – recorded in 2 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Latimeria chalumnae
Group	Bony fish
Status	Critically endangered (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	2 countries
Continents	Africa
Class	Lobe-finned fish
Order	Coelacanthiformes
Family	Latimeriidae

Where does the West Indian Ocean coelacanth live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the West Indian Ocean coelacanth in 2 countries and territories across Africa.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the West Indian Ocean coelacanth endangered?

The West Indian Ocean coelacanth’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Critically endangered” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the West Indian Ocean coelacanth?

The West Indian Ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) is a lobe-finned fish in the order Coelacanthiformes and the family Latimeriidae, genus Latimeria. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the West Indian Ocean coelacanth

The West Indian Ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae), sometimes known as the gombessa, African coelacanth, and simply coelacanth, is a crossopterygian, one of two extant species of coelacanth, a rare order of vertebrates more closely related to lungfish and tetrapods than to the common ray-finned fishes. The other extant species is the Indonesian coelacanth (L. menadoensis).

The West Indian Ocean coelacanth was historically known by fishermen around the Comoro Islands (where it is known as gombessa), Madagascar, and Mozambique in the western Indian Ocean, but first scientifically recognised from a specimen collected in South Africa in 1938.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article West Indian Ocean coelacanth (revision 1375975644), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q668921 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).