— coelacanthine /see'leuh kan"thuyn, -thin/ , adj.
/see"leuh kanth'/ , n.
a crossopterygian fish, Latimeria chalumnae, thought to have been extinct since the Cretaceous Period but found in 1938 off the coast of southern Africa.
[ 1605-15; Coelacanthus orig. a genus name, equiv. to coel- COEL- + Gk -akanthos -spined, -thorned, adj. deriv of ákantha spine, thorn ]