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Etymology

The word Coelacanth is an adaptation of the Modern Latin Cœlacanthus ('hollow spine'), from the Greek κοῖλ-ος (koilos, 'hollow') and ἄκανθ-α (akantha, 'spine'), referring to the hollow caudal fin rays of the first fossil specimen described and named by Louis Agassiz in 1839, belonging to the genus Coelacanthus. The genus name Latimeria commemorates Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, who discovered the first specimen.