Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 112, April 2014, pp. 1-10. | Page 6

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very large, while the mouth is very small. The eye is acclimatized to seeing in
poor light by having rods that absorb mostly low wavelengths. The vision of
coelacanths has evolved to a mainly blue-shifted color capacity.
Pseudomaxillary folds surround the mouth, which replace the maxilla, a
structure that is absent in coelacanths. There are two nostrils along with four
other external openings that appear between the premaxilla and lateral rostral
bones. The nasal sacs resemble those of many other fish and do not contain an
internal nostril. The rostral organ of the coelacanth is contained within the
ethmoid region of the braincase. It has three unguarded openings into the
environment. The rostral organ is used as a part of the coelacanth's laterosensory system. The coelacanth's auditory reception is mediated by its inner ear.
The inner ear of the coelacanth is very similar to that of tetrapods because it is
classified as being a basilar papilla (Wikipedia).
Locomotion of the coelacanths is unique to their kind. To move around,
coelacanths most commonly take advantage of up or down-wellings of the
current and drift. They use their paired fins to stabilize their movement through
the water. While on the ocean floor, they do not use their paired fins for any kind
of movement. Coelacanths can create thrust for quick starts by using their caudal
fins. Due to the high number of fins it possesses, the coelacanth has high
maneuverability and can orient its body in almost any direction in the water.
They have been seen doing headstands and swimming belly up. It is thought that
their rostral organ helps give the coelacanth electroperception, which aids in
their movement around obstacles (Wikipedia).
A group led by Chris Amemiya and Neil Shubin published the genome
sequence of the coelacanth in the journal “Nature”. The African coelacanth
genome was sequenced and assembled using DNA from a Comoros Islands
Latimeria chalumnae specimen. It was sequenced by Illumina sequencing
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