Jurassic-era fossil of ‘Lazarus’ fish expected to fetch £50,000 at auction

A rare Jurassic-era fossil of a fish dubbed “Lazarus” is expected to fetch up to £50,000 at auction in Sussex next month.

Coelecanths were thought to have gone extinct alongside the dinosaurs nearly 70 million years ago, until one was discovered on a South African fishing trawler in 1938, setting the scientific community abuzz with theories over its role in the evolution of fish into terrestrial animals.

Live specimens of the deep sea-dwelling creatures – which can grow to longer than six feet – were eventually discovered, and now can be found off the East African coast and near Sulawesi in Indonesia.

The dramatic discovery led the species to be classified as Lazarus taxon.