 Thought to be extinct since the end of the Cretaceous period (65 mya)  First live specimen was discovered in 1938 by a South African museum curator on a local fishing trawler  Have since been discovered all over the world  Considered a ‘living fossil’

 Many shark-like characteristics, however they are bony-fish  Considered the missing link between fish and tetrapods  Elusive deep-sea dwellers (down to 2300 ft.)  Listed as Endangered

 Can live up to 60 years  Reach up to 6 feet long  Weigh up 150 lbs.  Give birth to as many as 26 live pups (develop internally)

 Pair of lobe fins that extend away from its body like legs and move in an alternating pattern  Hinged joint in the skull which allows the fish to widen its mouth for large prey  An oil-filled tube, called a notochord, which serves as a backbone  Thick scales common only to extinct fish  An electrosensory rostral organ in its snout likely used to detect prey