Silver coelacanths from Spain are not proofs of a Pre-scientific discovery

In 1964 and 1965, two silver fish pendants depicting coelacanths and though t to be religious votive from Spanish churches were purchased on the art ma rket in Spain, dated between the 17th and late 19th century, long before th e discovery for science of the living coelacanth in 1938. It was speculated that they originated either from the Mediterranean, subtropical Atlantic, or subtropical Pacific (de Sylva 1966, Bruton 1985, Anonymous 1993, Greenwe ll 1994, Raynold & Mangiacopra 1995). Some authors believe that the silver fish pendants represent a new species of coelacanthiforms (Raynold & Mangia copra 1995), others claimed the pendants to be only a wishful fantasy of sc ientists and not coelacanths at all (Thomson 1991). However, new studies re vealed that the silver fish artefacts are indeed coelacanths but were in fa ct produced more recently with the Comorian coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae , as a model.