5 Prehistoric Fish Still Alive Today

In this video I will be going through 5 prehistoric fish that are still alive today. In the modern day there are very few reminders on the large creatures that roamed the earth, with some of the few reminders being fossils and the oil that we use to power our cars. There are a few animals alive today that have survived since the dinosaurs roamed the earth. This so called living fossils are normally very well adapted to survive this long. In this video i will be going through some prehistoric fish that are sometimes known as living fossils.

Attributions

Gar images:
NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
https://www.flickr.com/photos/noaa_gl...
USFWS Midwest Region
https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsmi...
James St. John
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeol...
Dave Edens
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sevendead/
Joachim S. Müller
https://www.flickr.com/photos/joachim...

Coelacanth images:
Earth Touch
https://www.flickr.com/photos/earth-t...
mickaushy
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mickaushy/
Mr. Evil Cheese Scientist
https://www.flickr.com/photos/evil_ch...
Bruce A.S.Henderson
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

Bowfin images:
NYS DEC
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nysdec/
Petroglyph
https://www.flickr.com/photos/2811311...
J E Theriot
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jetheriot/
Greg Laden
https://www.flickr.com/photos/greg_la...
Phil's 1stPix
https://www.flickr.com/photos/1stpix_...

Bowfin footage:
Angling Anarchy
   / @anglinganarchy  

Sawfish images:
Jonathan (Jon) Armbruster
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonarmb...
Simon Fraser University - Communications & Marketing
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sfupamr/
FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute
https://www.flickr.com/photos/myfwc/

Bichir Images:
Jin Kemoole
https://www.flickr.com/photos/1464011...
lapradei
https://www.flickr.com/photos/greenla...
naturald
https://www.flickr.com/photos/naturald/
Steven G. Johnson
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Us...
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Coelacanth fossil:
Ermell
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Us...

Sawfish fossil:
Hectonichus
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Us...

Gar fossil:
James St. John
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeol...

Bass image:
Rawpixel Ltd
https://www.flickr.com/photos/vintage...

Lobe finned fish:
Nobu Tamura
http://spinops.blogspot.com/
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
Prehistoricplanes
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Us...
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International

Spinosaurus image:
Nobu Tamura
http://spinops.blogspot.com/2014/10/s...
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International

Our first prehistoric fish is the bowfin. The bowfin is a air breathing north American predatory fish. These living fossils are mainly nocturnal and hunt other fish as well as a variety of invertebrates.

Our next prehistoric fish are the coelacanths. There are two coelacanth species still alive today but for a long time coelacanths were thought to have gone extinct millions of years ago until some live specimens were discovered in 1938.

Our next living fossils are the sawfish. there are 5 species of sawfish still alive today and although they may look like sharks they are actually members of the ray family. Sawfish are in trouble today as their saw are easily caught up in fishing nets.

Our next prehistoric fish are the gars. Gars are some of the meanest looking predatory fish alive today and there are 7 species still on the planet today. like the bowfin they are able to breathe atmospheric oxygen meaning they can survive in a wide range of habitats.

our final prehistoric fish are the bichirs. Bichirs are mainly found in Africa today in heavily vegetated swamps. Bichirs are some of the most diverse living fossils with around 12 species still existing today.

What is your favourite prehistoric fish?
Let me know in the comments below?

Thanks for watching I hope you enjoyed :)