One day in 1938, off the coast of East London, South Africa, a trawler caught a peculiar fish. It is a large fish about two meters long, glowing blue, with scales like armor all over the body, and the pointed head is unusually hard, and the most striking thing is that it has two shark fins on its chest and abdomen, which are fat and thick compared to other fish, and look like the limbs of a wild beast. Unfortunately, the fishermen did not take special care of this strange-looking fish, but mixed it with other catches and transported it back to the port and stacked it on the dock.

At this time, Ms. Radima, who works at the Museum in East London, happened to pass by the docks, and when she saw the fish, she couldn't help but stop: she was so intrigued by the fish she had never seen before that it still had "limbs", so she took out her notebook from her satchel and drew the shape of the fish. When she returned home, Ms. Radima found all the books on the fish, but found none of the names, illustrated books or descriptions of the fish. She went to the library again, hoping to find out, but after searching through all the professional books and fish illustrated books in the library, she couldn't find a single clue about the fish. The result of finding nothing only fueled Ms. Radima's determination to find out the ins and outs of the fish. So, she sent a letter to Professor Smith, a famous ichthyologist in South Africa, and attached a sketch of her own drawings to ask the professor for advice.

When Professor Smith, who received the letter, saw the sketch of the fish, he exclaimed: "Isn't this a coelacanth, this is a paleontological coelacanth!" But it has been extinct for tens of millions of years, can there still survive? This is incredible!" The professor immediately sent a telegram to Ms. Radima: This fish is very similar to the paleontological coelacanth, I will go to your place immediately, please be sure to take good care of the fish. After sending the telegram, the excited professor immediately drove the car towards East London.

It turns out that this peculiar-looking fish is called coelacanth, which once flourished 300 million years ago, but when it evolved from a marine animal to a land animal, for some reason, it had given birth to limbs and returned to live in the ocean, and it was extinct tens of millions of years ago. What is known about coelacanths today is based on fossils and is believed to have disappeared from the face of the earth forever.

When Professor Smith arrived, he was disappointed by what he saw: all he saw were bones, fat shark fins, and scales that were still glowing blue—and when she received the professor's telegram, Ms. Radima flew towards the docks, but unfortunately the ignorant fishermen had eaten the fish.

Professor Smith, who was still elated just now, now he doesn't even have the strength to speak, and the fatigue of the long journey of more than 500 kilometers has suddenly surged up. Although the bones, scales, and shark fins have been preserved, which has helped the study of coelacanths, they have lost the complete object of study! The professor affirmed that this fish is a coelacanth that can only be seen on fossils in the past. He believes that at least one fish is still alive, because it is absolutely impossible for a single fish to survive tens of millions of years of change, and it can only survive through generations. But where are the other coelacanths?

Professor Smith immediately printed a large number of leaflets, with images of coelacanths and the words: "£100 for anyone who finds this fish" in English, French and Portuguese, which was widely distributed along the Atlantic and Indian Ocean coasts of Africa. The professor himself went on a fishing boat to find out and investigate and publicize to the fishermen. Despite all the hard work and every possible way, there is still no trace of the coelacanth.

Soon, World War II broke out, and the whole world was drawn into the whirlpool of war, and the search for coelacanth was gradually forgotten. Professor Smith did not forget, let alone be discouraged, and when the long war was over, he immediately began to search for coelacanth again......

After years of painstaking searching, no clues have been found to coelacanths. By this time, it was December 1952. We know that land animals all evolved from the ocean, and aquatic animals without limbs like fish have already given birth to limbs but returned to the ocean in the process of evolving to land animals, and scientists call this aquatic animal "coelacanth". If we compare the evolution of ocean-dwelling fish to land animals to the growth of frogs, then coelacanths are equivalent to tadpoles that give birth to limbs. Professor Smith believes that if you find the coelacanth, you may well have found the key to unlocking the mystery of biological evolution.

Is it true that the coelacanth is extinct? and the one found at the time is the only one? Just when the professor was in despair, a telegram from afar reached him: "We have caught a fish that looks like a coelacanth, and we look forward to your arrival." "The telegram was sent by fishermen from the Comoros. The professor, who was pleasantly surprised, hurriedly sought help from the South African government and flew to the Comoros Islands on a military plane. Indeed, this is the coelacanth of the professor's dreams: this "living fossil" with a length of 1.50 centimeters and a weight of 58 kilograms has been injected with formalin and salted, and is waiting for the arrival of the professor.

In the evening, Professor Smith, still immersed in excitement and joy, placed the box containing the coelacanth beside his bedside - after a long fourteen years of painstaking searching, today finally came to fruition, and the long-cherished wish of the professor was so full of emotion that he stayed awake all night......