In 1938, a living prehistoric relic was discovered. A trawler docked in East London, South Africa with the usual catch of shark, ray and ratfish found something unusual: a huge purple fish that seemed to have limb-like appendages instead of fins. The discovery of the coelacanth caused a sensation in the scientific world because it is the only living member of a very old group of fishes, the actinistians – sole survivors of a line of development that otherwise became extinct.