Often called living fossils, these eel - like misfits have lungs and
fleshy pectoral fins, bony plates and thick scales reminiscent of ancient fossil fish, and flag - like fins along their back that are unique.
Biologists studying fossils in the 19th century thought that coelacanths, with their
fleshy ventral and
pectoral fins, were likely to have been the first fish to crawl out of the sea.