If you are standing on your head in an ocean about 200 meters down and using weak electric signals in your puppy dog-like caudal fin and limb-like pectoral fins to detect prey, chances are you may be a coelacanth. If you are interested in reading something about a fish that does that sort of thing, you may be looking for this book.

A Fish Caught in Time describes the discovery, search for, natural history (as much as we know) of, and the scientists and fishermen obsessed with this ancient fish that was thought to be an extinct 'missing link' between life in the oceans and life on land. Samantha Weinberg, the author, readily captures the excitement of the initial discovery in southern Africa that the fish was not extinct, and the recent discovery of another population in Indonesia, as well as the efforts to understand and capture a live fish and/or images of one during the time in between. The author makes it completely understandable why scientists, fishermen, and others become so enthralled they would travel halfway around the world to attempt to get a glimpse of this ungainly but beautiful and important fish.

But if you just want to stay in your armchair (or wherever) to get the picture, read this book. ( )

A wonderfully informative book about the coelacanth from it's modern discovery up to recent times. The characters are compelling and almost feel as if they should be a in a novel. This is a very quick read that still gives a wealth of information on the subject. ( )

Exhaustive & well written. ( )

This book is like an action novel for the person who is facinated with evolution and with the moden scientific method. It challenges our notions of what we consider to be fact and fiction related to what species are believed to be extinct. This book is a true Jurasic park tale. I loved every page and refer anyone who will listen to me to it. It is a wonderful book for any age, but may be particularly well suited for teenagers who like science. ( )