Conservation Status: Critically Endangered (Very Highly Vulnerable To Extinction)

Coelacanths live in deep waters off of southeastern Africa. Only once fishers started fishing deeper and deeper was this species discovered. Before that time, this entire family of fishes was only known from fossils. Coelacanths reach lengths over 6.5 feet (2 m) and are nocturnal predators. They spend daylight hours hiding in caves and other dark spaces and … Read more

The Atlantic goliath grouper, like most groupers, is an ambush predator and eats fairly large fishes and invertebrates and even small sharks. Reefs with large numbers of predators, like Atlantic goliath groupers, are known to be healthier than reefs with no predators, so this species may represent an important part of the reef food web. Atlantic goliath … Read more

The sturgeons are a very old group of fishes (over 200 million years old) and make up one of the most primitive lineages of bony fishes. Their dinosaur-like bodies match their prehistoric lineage. They are covered with strong bony plates; they have asymmetrical, shark-like tails; and they have barbels off of their long snouts that help … Read more