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A dual respiratory and auditory function for the coelacanth lung.

Since the discovery of Latimeria chalumnae, coelacanths have provided a critical comparative framework for reconstructing ancestral sarcopterygian anatomy. However, the function of several anatomical features in both extant and fossil coelacanths remains unresolved. Among these, the presence of large ossified chambers in the body cavity of fossil coelacanths has remained enigmatic, with different studies proposing respiratory or auditory functions. Here, we examine lung and inner ear anatomy based on new observations from synchrotron phase-contrast microCT scans of two 240-million-year-old latimerioid coelacanths, alongside multiple developmental stages of the extant L. chalumnae. These data, combined with archival histological sections of L. chalumnae and 3D reconstructions of a Devonian coelacanth, suggest that extinct coelacanths possessed an ossified lung capable of transmitting sound pressure to auditory sensory epithelia in the inner ear via a perilymphatic system. We propose that the lung of extinct coelacanths supported both respiratory and auditory functions.

Our Research Featured on the Cover of Genetics

Research from the Milinkovitch Lab on hypomelanism in reptiles is featured on the cover of Genetics.

Multiscale Drivers of Sea Urchin Gastrulation: Bridging Cellular Events and Morphogenesis

06.03.2026 12:15, 1S081 (Sciences III)

Lodovico Mazzei (Salbreux Lab).
hosted by: Robert Maeda.