Animal Crossing: New Horizons will have you fishing all day and all night for its rarest fish, those that spawn so little that people who have played for hundreds of hours may never see them. One of those super rare fish is the Coelacanth.
Part of every single Animal Crossing game to date, the Coelacanth is a gigantic fish that is worth its weight in Bells. Catching it is easier said than done, however, as you have to rely on New Horizons’ weather system.
Here’s all the info you need to catch the Coelacanth in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. If you need a whole load more New Horizons guides, we have you covered.
Coelacanth Quick Facts

Name | Location | Time of Day | Price | C.J. Price | Seasonality |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coelacanth | Sea (Raining) | All Day | 15000 | 22500 | All Year |
“Blast from the past! I caught a coelacanth! Think positive! Be a coela-CAN!”
The Coelacanth casts the largest shadow, though don’t be upset when you catch a bass instead. We all have to go through the pain.
Coelacanth Location & Time of Day

The Coelacanth in Animal Crossing: New Horizons can be found anywhere in the ocean around your island, though only when it’s raining.
This means that there’s even more luck involved when it comes to catching the Coelacanth, especially if you aren’t in the right season for bad weather.
If you desperately want the Coelacanth, you could always “time travel” by changing your Switch’s time and date settings until you land on a day when it is raining. However, we say you may as well just wait as time travelling can kind of send the balance of your island all over the place.
On the good side, Coelacanth are available throughout the entire day, so you could technically stay up all day and all night to try and catch it.
As always, you will need at least a flimsy fishing rod to catch the Coelacanth. If you’re having trouble finding one, don’t forget to craft bait with clams so more fish will spawn in front of you, while also checking that you are fishing when your island is getting a downpour.
Coelacanth Price
Once you’ve caught a Coelacanth in New Horizons, don’t forget to turn it into Blathers at the museum to add it to his collection. You can then find it in the deep sea tank on the right side of the aquarium.
Here’s what Blathers has to tell you about them:
“The coelacanth is a deep-sea fish that has been around since the age of the dinosaurs. They were long thought extinct, so when living specimens were discovered, it was quite a shock! Now I’ll just have to figure out where in the museum to display it— fish or fossils!”
When you catch your second Coelacanth, you can then sell it to Nook’s Cranny for 15000 Bells. This ties it as the most lucrative fish to sell for Bells in Animal Crossing: New Horizons alongside the likes of the Golden Trout.
You can also hold onto it until C.J. arrives on your island, who will then buy it for 20% more than usual for a price of 22,500 Bells. You can also give him three of them and he will give you a Coelacanth model in return.
When Are Coelacanth Available Until?
If you don’t catch the Coelacanth in Animal Crossing: New Horizons straight away, there’s no reason to panic: they are available in the game every day of the year.
Fishing is all about patience, so sit tight and you will almost definitely come across the Coelacanth eventually in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which is out now exclusively for Switch, is one of the best ways to brush up on your fish knowledge. From our review:
“New Horizons is a great continuation of an already fantastic series of games, and paying back Tom Nook’s loan has never been so fun.”
MORE NEW HORIZONS:
– Animal Crossing: New Horizons: All New May 2020 Bugs
– Animal Crossing: New Horizons: All New May 2020 Fish
– What Does the Server Do?
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