Gulf Coelacanth

The Gulf Coelacanth is an unknown species of coelcanth, or similar primitive fish, very similar to the West Indian Ocean Coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae). It has been reported from the Gulf of Mexico in the 17th-20th centuries from individual fish scales and silver models.

Evidence

Tallahassee, Florida Four-Legged Fish (1949)

In 1949 the Fortean Society magazine "Doubt" published a report which referenced an unknown, four-legged fish captured near Tallahassee, Florida which could not be identified by the Florida Wildlife Association. It was reported as 4 feet long and with 3 inch legs, the right length for a coelacanth, though with shorter legs than normal.

Tampa, Florida Scale (1949)

In 1949, an unknown fish scale was sent to the US National Museum (Now the Smithsonian), by a Tampa souvenir-maker, who claimed to have purchased a gallon of the scales from local fishermen. According to Dr. Isaac Ginsburg the scale, about 1.5 inches in diameter, was of "a primitive structure", and was evidence for "a large, primitive-type fish, unknown to science in the region", and did not match any known species in the Gulf of Mexico.

Mexican 'Silver Coelacanths' (1963-1965)

This section is about a suspected hoax

A significant portion of researchers who have investigated this sighting have supported the notion that it may be a hoax, but this may not be proven or universally accepted.

Greenwell and Raynal makes reference to several "silver coelacanths", silver models of a coelacanth type fish found in Spain and Monaco, as well as a Spanish goblet featuring a coelcanth-like engraving found at a museum in Pittsburgh.

The first was bought by chemist Ladislao Reti in 1964 from the priest of a small church near Bilbao, Spain where it had been hanging as a religious offering. The model, 4 inches long, was accurately scaled and depicted a fish very similar to then known coelacanths, however the model was thought to have been made in the 1800s, a century before the coelacanth's rediscovery. A second was purchased by Belgian molecular biologist Maurice Steinert in 1965, from an antiques shop in Toledo, Spain. The model was again very similar but slightly different to known coelacanths, and during a 1987 analysis by silver art specialists was said to be from the 17th-18th century. South-American silversmithing expert Professor Valdovinus, of the Prado Museum in Madrid, claimed that Steinert's model was a Meso-American item, in part due to the lack of markings; at the time, Spanish silversmiths would mark their work, while Native South American smiths could not. Raynal claims that Dr. C. Carpine, curator at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, says that in roughly 1963 a man approached the museum staff trying to sell a silver, articulated model of a fish approximately a meter in length that closely resembled a coelacanth.

A photograph of Steinert's 1965 silver coelacanth

An image of Reti's 1964 silver coelacanth

Gulf Coast, Florida Scale Necklace (1973)

American naturalist Sterling Lanier reported finding scales very similar to that of a coelacanth being used in a necklace on display at an outdoor art show on the Gulf coast of Florida in approximately 1973. The craftsman had apparently fished the scales, one by one, out of a trash barrel of seaweed, crabs, and trash fish coming from a Gulf shrimp boat. Lanier was unable to buy the necklace, and while he did sketch the scales, the sketch was later lost.

Mexican Goblet (1990s)

In the 1990s, Steven Kredel relayed to cryptozoologist Gary Mangiacopra that he had seen a silver goblet, engraved with a coelacanth-like fish, on display at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania alongside a coelacanth specimen preserved in formaldehyde. The goblet was labelled as being a Spanish artifact from the 17th century. However, inquiries by both Raynal and fellow cryptozoologist Karl Shuker showed that the Carnegie Museum did not currently and had no knowledge of in the past owning either a formaldehyde-preserved coelacanth or a Spanish 17th-century goblet depicting such.

Possible Explanations

Fossil Recreation

One suggestion for the silver coelacanths was that they are recreations based on various coelacanth fossils. However, this is disputed by coelacanth specialist Jean Anthony, due to the incompleteness of other known coelacanth fossils, as well as the fact that Steinert's model shows the spots found on the skin of coelacanths, which would not be preserved in a fossilized specimen.

Hoax

A later study published in the journal Environmental Biology of Fishes in 2001 more closely examines the photographs of the now lost Reti silver coelacanth, as well as physically analyzing the still-extant Steinert silver coelacanth, and comes to the conclusion that both are not in fact 17th-18th century Meso-American artifacts, but modern folk art, based directly off the well known 1938 holotype. Points raised include the lack of gular bones on the bottom of the head; which are obvious in an in-hand example but not visible in common holotype photographs, as well as various other features including close similarity of the fin positions, as well as fin damage, the low purchase price, sharp edges not smoothed by handling, and a lack of embellishments common in other silver works of the period. Analysis was done both by A. Jimenez, an expert on silver artifacts as well as specifically silver fish, as well as Valdovinus, who retracted his previous appraisal of the items as historical, and instead agreed that they were likely modern crafts made based on the holotype photographs.

Cryptozoologist Karl Shuker disputes this claim in his 2016 book Still in Search of Prehistoric Survivors, noting that no note is made of the Reti model's mismatched first dorsal fin. He also says that two of the study's claims- that there are no fantastical embellishments, pointing towards it being a modern item- followed by the claim that fantasy embellishments on the bottom of the head are evidence of it being a modern item, is an instance of hypocrisy that calls the study into question.