150-Year-Old Specimen Reveals Ancient Fish Evolution Insights

A 150-year-old fossil housed at London’s Natural History Museum has led to the identification of a new species of coelacanth, providing crucial insights into the evolutionary history of one of the world’s most iconic fish lineages.

The specimen, preserved since the 19th century, was re-examined by Jack L. Norton, a former University of Portsmouth palaeontology student now pursuing a PhD in Zurich, and his former supervisor Dr Samuel Cooper. Using modern techniques including X-ray computed tomography (XCT), they were able to study the fossil’s internal structure in unprecedented detail.

This discovery fills a long-standing 50-million-year gap in the fossil record of Latimeriidae, the family that includes the modern coelacanth. The fossil comes from the Lower Cretaceous Gault Formation of southern England.

Coelacanths are often referred to as ‘living fossils’ because they have remained largely unchanged for millions of years and still swim in the seas today, having survived the extinction event that killed off the dinosaurs.

Jack L. Norton described the significance of the find, stating: “It’s incredibly exciting that such an important specimen has been hiding in plain sight for over a century. Only now that we have the technology available to examine these fossils in minute detail at the Natural History Museum do we understand its significance.”

He added: “To manipulate a specimen with such importance and antiquity in 3D was truly fantastic.”

The research highlights how modern imaging technologies are enabling scientists to re-evaluate historical museum collections and uncover new species from specimens that have been available for generations but lacked the tools for detailed analysis.