coelacanth Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun fish thought to have been extinct since the Cretaceous period but found in 1938 off the coast of Africa
    Latimeria chalumnae.

WordNet


Coel"a*canth adjective
Etymology
Gr. hollow + spine.
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) Having hollow spines, as some ganoid fishes.

Webster 1913