{"id":16216,"date":"2022-08-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-14T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=16216"},"modified":"2022-08-22T11:39:51","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T09:39:51","slug":"natures-weirdest-animals-the-coelacanth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/2022\/08\/15\/natures-weirdest-animals-the-coelacanth\/","title":{"rendered":"Nature\u2019s weirdest animals: The coelacanth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
NATURE\u2019S WEIRDEST ANIMALS\u2026<\/span><\/h5>\n\n

The coelacanth<\/h2>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

For years, scientists thought it died out with the dinosaurs. The only known coelacanths were fossils. <\/p>\n\n

Then in 1938, a South African museum curator found a dead one in a fisherman\u2019s catch. Live specimens were later caught, proving that this curious fish was never actually exinct. <\/p>\n\n

Living deep in the waters around Africa\u2019s Comoro Islands and Indonesia\u2019s Sulawesi, this big, bottom-dweller is unlike any other living fish. Weird True Fact 1: it has eight fins, including two pairs which stick out from the body like legs. It doesn\u2019t use them for walking though. They\u2019re more like the stabilisers you get on kids\u2019 bikes. WTF 2: instead of a bony backbone, coelacanths have a hollow, oil-filled tube called a notochord. WTF 3: they are fatheads. The brain occupies just 1.5 per cent of its braincase and the rest is filled with fat. It also has thick scales, a unique jaw joint, a huge gape, and an organ in the snout for electroreception. By detecting electrostatic fields, they can use this intel to avoid obstacles and detect prey. HP <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n

Email your questions to<\/span>
questions@sciencefocus.com<\/a>
or submit on Twitter<\/span>
@sciencefocus<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

IMAGE: ALAMY<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NATURE\u2019S WEIRDEST ANIMALS\u2026 The coelacanth For years, scientists thought it died out with the dinosaurs. The only known coelacanths were fossils. Then in 1938, a South African museum curator found a dead one in a fisherman\u2019s catch. Live specimens were later caught, proving that this curious fish was never actually exinct. Living deep in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":16546,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"81","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"81","purple_seq_number":"3","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"3","purple_source_article":"article_81-3.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_81-3.xml","purple_source_issue":"August-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"August-2022","purple_external_id":"August-2022-81-3","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"August-2022-81-3","purple_issue_code":"|0000089657||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000089657||","purple_android_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue381","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue381","purple_ios_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue381","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue381","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"0f422ad1-c939-476d-9f82-a410052ad4c3","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-08-15T15:42:05Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"f2598958-ee94-4eee-95f8-9e81bba894f5","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-08-22T09:39:57Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A8lmJWO6UTu6V-J6Bu6iU9Q","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[30],"tags":[15],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/ALAMY_GDDBHK-feature-im.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"< 1","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/ALAMY_GDDBHK-feature-im.jpg",750,750,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/ALAMY_GDDBHK-feature-im-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/ALAMY_GDDBHK-feature-im-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/ALAMY_GDDBHK-feature-im.jpg",750,750,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/ALAMY_GDDBHK-feature-im.jpg",750,750,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/ALAMY_GDDBHK-feature-im.jpg",750,750,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/ALAMY_GDDBHK-feature-im.jpg",750,750,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"NATURE\u2019S WEIRDEST ANIMALS\u2026 The coelacanth For years, scientists thought it died out with the dinosaurs. The only known coelacanths were fossils. Then in 1938, a South African museum curator found a dead one in a fisherman\u2019s catch. Live specimens were later caught, proving that this curious fish was never actually exinct. Living deep in the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16216"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16216"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17616,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16216\/revisions\/17616"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}