Coelacanth
| Coelacanth | |||
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| シーラカンス | |||
| Character Data | |||
| Romaji | Shīrakansu
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| Debut | Kemono Friends 3 | ||
| Animal Data | |||
| Scientific Name | Latimeria chalumnae
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| Distribution | Western Indian Ocean along the eastern to southeastern coast of Africa
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| Diet | Carnivore
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| Avg. Lifespan | 48 years
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| Read More | West Indian Ocean Coelacanth
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| Conservation | 
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| Coelacanth | KF3 | Gallery |
Coelacanth is a type of fish Friend and the very first Friend based on a real fish species in the franchise. She is a Friend revealed alongside Japanese Pancake Devilfish for the Numazu Deep Sea Aquarium Collaboration with Kemono Friends 3 on May 26, 2023.
Appearance
Coelacanth has very fair skin and light blue, almost cloudy eyes. Her hair is incredibly long, reaching past her knees. It is dark blue with lighter blue specks, very much like the real life species. Similar to the bird Friends, who have their wings on their heads, her fins are on her head and at the tips on her hair. These fins are a mix of white, dark blue, and gray. She also has two tiny braids on either side of her head, held together by two equally tiny, glowing blue beads.
The clothing seems to have been inspired by fantasy style Roman gladiator-esque armor: the royal blue breastplate has a scale-patterned, triangle-shaped cloth that just covers her navel and has a small bow between the plates. Her leather-strip skirt is topped by a white cloth waistband, adorned by a blue metal belt buckle with the Japari Park logo. She has dark blue wrist and ankle guards with scale patterns, much like her top. Lastly, she has brown, strappy sandals.
Series Appearances
| Media | Role | |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Kemono Friends 3 | ↪ Minor character, playable character |
In Real Life
Coelacanths (pron. SEE-luh-kanth) are a group of lobe-finned fish in the class Actinistia, closely related to lungfish and tetrapods (which includes amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) than to ray-finned fish. They are now represented by only two extant species in the genus Latimeria: the West Indian Ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae), and the Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis).
The species that this fish Friend is based on is the West Indian Ocean coelacanth, historically known to be found around the Comoro Islands (where it is known as "gombessa"), Madagascar, and Mozambique in the western Indian Ocean. It was first scientifically recognized from a specimen collected in South Africa in 1938. It is a very elusive fish, and thus very little is known about them.
It was first discovered in December of 1938; Hendrik Goosen, captain of the fishing boat Nerine, returned home from a trip and called his friend Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer to see if she wanted to check the contents of his most recent catch. He had mentioned a "strange" fish he had caught and went to great lengths to avoid any damage to this fish during the trip back. Courtenay-Latimer could not find a description matching this odd fish in any of her books, and her friend and colleague Professor J. L. B. Smith was away for Christmas. As she was unable to preserve the fish long enough for him to return, Marjorie sent the animal to a taxidermist.
Upon Smith's return, he immediately recognized it as a coelacanth, known to science only from fossils and thought to have been extinct for 65 million years. Professor Smith named the fish Latimeria chalumnae in honor of Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer. The two scientists received immediate recognition and the coelacanth was declared a "living fossil".
It is a massive fish, with the average length being around 2 m (6.5 ft.) and average weight of about 80 kg (176 lb.). West Indian coelacanths have a deep, royal blue color with lighter blue spots dotting the scales. This is used as a camouflage tactic for hunting prey. Their large eyes have special visual cell rods to help see in their dark environments.
Being deep water creatures, West Indian Ocean coelacanths are usually found between 180–210 m (590–690 ft.), but are sometimes found as deep as 243 m (797 ft.). The most shallow they can be spotted is 54 meters (177 ft.). They prefer to be in underwater caves, which are most common in the aforementioned depths. The habitat choice and lack of prey may limit their maximum depth range. Evidence suggests they use these caves as protection from predators during the daytime and use the surrounding areas as feeding grounds at night.
Coelacanths are opportunistic feeders. As of now, there are only four known species of prey: cardinal fish, the splendid alfonsino, rattail fish and goatsbeard brotula. Some individuals have been seen performing "headstands" to feed. This behavior allows the fish to "slurp" their prey from cave floors and crevices and is made possible due to the coelacanth's ability to move both its upper and lower jaw. This is a unique trait seen only in vertebrates that have bone skeletons.
West Indian Ocean coelacanths are widely but very sparsely distributed, making them difficult to find. They are mostly seen around the rim of the western Indian Ocean, from South Africa northward along the East African coast. Between 1991 and 1994, there was an estimated 30% total population reduction of the coelacanth due to accidental catching in fishing nets. By 1998, the total population was estimated to be 500 or fewer, putting the species' survival in dire straits. In 1989, the coelacanth was added to Appendix I (threatened with extinction) by the IUCN. According to CITES, "The treaty forbids international trade for commercial purposes and regulates all trade, including sending specimens to museums, through a system of permits."
Trivia
- Coelacanth is the first real fish Friend. Although Jinmengyo is also based on a fish, its original model of the same name is regarded as a cryptid, making Coelacanth the first true fish Friend.
- Her eyes seem to be almost cloudy, but still have the eyeshine extinct friends lack. This may hint at the Critically Endangered status of her species.
- Other names include African coelacanth or simply coelacanth.
- They are oviviparous, meaning they retain their eggs internally until they hatch.
- The original 1938 coelacanth is still on display in the East London Museum.
References
- West Indian Ocean Coelacanth Wikipedia Page
- Locket, N. A. (1973). "Retinal Structure in Latimeria chalumnae". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences. 266 (881): 493–518. Bibcode:1973RSPTB.266..493L. doi:10.1098/rstb.1973.0054. ISSN 0080-4622. JSTOR 2417305. PMID 4148821.
- Fricke, H.; Hissmann, K. (2000-03-28). "Feeding ecology and evolutionary survival of the living coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae". Marine Biology. 136 (2): 379–386. doi:10.1007/s002270050697. ISSN 0025-3162. S2CID 84173448.
- Fraser, Michael D.; Henderson, Bruce A.S.; Carstens, Pieter B.; Fraser, Alan D.; Henderson, Benjamin S.; Dukes, Marc D.; Bruton, Michael N. (26 March 2020). "Live coelacanth discovered off the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, South Africa". South African Journal of Science. 116 (3/4 March/April 2020). doi:10.17159/sajs.2020/7806.
- White, Nicholas (2016-03-04). "ADW: Latimeria chalumnae: INFORMATION". Animaldiversity.org. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
- Plante, Raphaël; Fricke, Hans; Hissmann, Karen (1998). "Coelacanth population, conservation and fishery activity at Grande Comore, West Indian Ocean". Marine Ecology Progress Series. 166: 231–236. Bibcode:1998MEPS..166..231P. doi:10.3354/meps166231. ISSN 0171-8630. JSTOR 24827051.