Mozambique | 2 Meticais

Coelacanth fish. There are only two known species: one that lives near the Comoros Islands off the east coast of Africa, and one found in the waters off Sulawesi, Indonesia. They are elusive, deep-sea creatures, living in depths up to 700 m below the surface. They can be huge, reaching 2 m or more and weighing 90 kg. Many scientists believe that the unique characteristics of the coelacanth represent an early step in the evolution of fish to terrestrial four-legged animals like amphibians. The primitive-looking coelacanth was thought to have gone extinct with the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, but its discovery in 1938 by a South African museum curator on a local fishing trawler fascinated the world.