---
title: "#Living Fossil Animals & Superpower Traits (5 Species) | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "Surviving largely unchanged across hundreds of millions of years, outlasting mass extinction events. Explore all 5 species with this trait in the AnimalTracks wildlife encyclopedia."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/icon-512.png"
---

# #Living Fossil Animals & Evolutionary Adaptations

> Surviving largely unchanged across hundreds of millions of years, outlasting mass extinction events.

- **Trait Category**: Behavior & Tactics
- **Species Count**: 5 Curated Creatures
- **Browse Web**: [View interactive trait gallery](https://animaltracks.wiki/tags/living-fossil/)

## Species With #Living Fossil

- [Atlantic Horseshoe Crab](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/atlantic-horseshoe-crab/) (*Limulus polyphemus*)
  - **Superpower**: Blue blood that clots when it meets certain bacteria, which labs use to test medicines and medical devices for endotoxins.
  - **Danger**: Low | **Conservation**: Vulnerable
  - **Soundtrack**: Philip Glass (Neo-Classical & Baroque Chamber)
- [Coelacanth](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/coelacanth/) (*Latimeria chalumnae*)
  - **Superpower**: Fleshy, lobed fins whose front and back pairs move in a diagonal rhythm, like the legs of a four-legged land animal.
  - **Danger**: Low | **Conservation**: Critically Endangered
  - **Soundtrack**: Ahab (Sludge Metal & Abyssal Doom)
- [Frilled Shark](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/frilled-shark/) (*Chlamydoselachus anguineus*)
  - **Superpower**: Six frilly gill slits, tricuspid teeth, and a lineage estimated at 82 million years old.
  - **Danger**: Medium | **Conservation**: Least Concern
  - **Soundtrack**: Bring Me The Horizon (Modern Alt-Metal & Post-Hardcore)
- [Sea Lamprey](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/sea-lamprey/) (*Petromyzon marinus*)
  - **Superpower**: A jawless, sucker-like mouth ringed with small, sharp teeth that act as a rasp, plus a file-like tongue
  - **Danger**: Low | **Conservation**: Least Concern
  - **Soundtrack**: Boris (Sludge Metal & Heavy Drone)
- [Tuatara](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/tuatara/) (*Sphenodon punctatus*)
  - **Superpower**: A light-sensitive third eye with a retina and lens, and the lowest optimal body temperature of any reptile, 16 to 21 degrees Celsius.
  - **Danger**: Low | **Conservation**: Least Concern
  - **Soundtrack**: God Is An Astronaut (Post-Rock & Cinematic Space)

```json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@graph": [
    {
      "@type": "CollectionPage",
      "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/tags/living-fossil/#collection",
      "name": "#Living Fossil Animals",
      "description": "Surviving largely unchanged across hundreds of millions of years, outlasting mass extinction events. Explore all 5 species with this trait in the AnimalTracks wildlife encyclopedia.",
      "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/tags/living-fossil/",
      "mainEntity": {
        "@type": "ItemList",
        "itemListElement": [
          {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 1,
            "name": "Atlantic Horseshoe Crab",
            "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/atlantic-horseshoe-crab/"
          },
          {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 2,
            "name": "Coelacanth",
            "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/coelacanth/"
          },
          {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 3,
            "name": "Frilled Shark",
            "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/frilled-shark/"
          },
          {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 4,
            "name": "Sea Lamprey",
            "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/sea-lamprey/"
          },
          {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 5,
            "name": "Tuatara",
            "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/tuatara/"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}
```