A group of lobe-finned fishes, distantly related to tetrapods, that spans some 375 million years of geological time from the first known fossil in the Middle Devonian to the living fish Latimeria chalumnae. There is, however, a gap of some 70 million years in the fossil record between the most recent known fossil and the living fish. Indeed, coelacanths had long been thought to have become extinct with the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous. Great excitement therefore ensued when the first living coelacanth was found off East London, South Africa, in 1938. Much debate followed concerning the status of the living species: for example, where does Latimeria live, how has it survived, and how many are there now are still issues. Recently a new population of the species has been discovered in the western Pacific Ocean, throwing many previously held theories into disarray.