Coelacanths
- Comments
-
Glasgow Museums has a collection of 14 coelacanth scales, two specimen casts and two models. These date from 1981 to 2008.
The 14 individual scales were removed from a coelacanth specimen in the Hancock Museum in Newcastle and later donated to Glasgow Museums. The first cast is of an adult coelacanth which was modelled and cast by Glasgow Museums’ taxidermist Richard ‘Dick’ Hendry from a mould supplied by the Royal Scottish Museum. Photographs documenting its preparation are held in the collection. The second cast is of a foetus with egg sac still attached. The two models in the collection were made in 2008 for new displays in Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.
About coelacanths
Coelacanths were believed to have been extinct since the Cretaceous Period, about 65 million years ago, until a live specimen was caught in 1938 off the Chalumna River on the east coast of Africa. Since then coelacanths have been found off the Comoros Islands, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, South Africa and Indonesia. There are two known species of coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae and Latimeria menadoensis). - Broader term
- Staff Contact