Coelacanth, Coelacanthus banffensis and Whitea sp.

Fossil fishes were first discovered in the Wapiti Lake region (where the Museum's Whiteia specimens were collected) in 1947 by researchers from the University of Kansas. In 1948 the National Museums of Canada sent Charles M. Sternberg -- the man who has probably collected more dinosaur fossils than anyone else in the world -- to Wapiti Lake for fossil hunting.

This Whiteia specimen was collected by Gilbert Stucker of the American Museum of Natural History, during his 1961 expedition with Harvey Champagne of the National Museums of Canada. The fragment is missing the large head of this relatively slender fish.

An incomplete fossil of a coelacanth of the genus Whiteia.

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