Baytop's Onion vs Komoren-Quastenflosser

Allium baytopiorum compared with Latimeria chalumnae

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Baytop's Onion	Komoren-Quastenflosser
Kingdom	Plantae (Pflanzen)	Animalia (Tier)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Chordata (Chordatiere)
Class	Liliopsida (Monocots)	Coelacanthi (Coelacanthi)
Order	Asparagales (Spargelartige)	Coelacanthiformes (Quastenflosser)
Family	Amaryllidaceae	Latimeriidae
Genus	Allium	Latimeria
Species	Allium baytopiorum	Latimeria chalumnae

Conservation Status

Baytop's Onion

CR — Critically Endangered

Komoren-Quastenflosser

CR — Critically Endangered

Population: ~500

Trend: Decreasing ↓

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Baytop's Onion	Komoren-Quastenflosser
Diet	—	Carnivore
Average Lifespan	—	100 years
Average Length	—	1.8 m
Average Weight	—	80.0 kg

Habitat & Geographic Range

Baytop's Onion

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Komoren-Quastenflosser

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, and tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas, among 8 distinct biome types spanning the Australasia and Afrotropic and Indomalayan realms. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Distributed across Comoros, Indonesia, Mozambique, and South Africa. Currently classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Baytop's Onion

The Baytop's Onion (Allium baytopiorum) is a species in the genus Allium. It is currently classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Komoren-Quastenflosser

A living fossil thought extinct for 65 million years until rediscovered off South Africa in 1938, coelacanths can reach 2 meters and 90 kg. They belong to an ancient lobe-finned lineage more closely related to tetrapods than to ray-finned fish, making them scientifically invaluable for understanding vertebrate evolution. Found in deep rocky reef habitats of the Indian Ocean, they are nocturnal and undergo internal fertilization, giving birth to fully formed live young. Critically Endangered.