Preserved Coelacanth. The discovery of a coelacanth off the east coast of South Africa in 1938 rocked the scientific community because these fish were known only from fossils that were millions of years old. The coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae), as it turned out, had survived into the modern era, out of sight in the ocean depths. The discovery so captured the interest of scientists that books were written about the first specimen and the subsequent searches for more. Then, in 1997, another shocking discovery took place: a second species, the Sulawesi Coelacanth, L. menadoensis, was discovered in the waters off Indonesia. Much remains unknown about the biology and ecology of this ancient group, which inhabits the dim twilight zone at depths between 490 and 2,300 feet (~150 to 700 meters). Coelacanth can grow to be 5.9 feet (1.8 meters) in length. This is a preserved specimen at the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA, USA.