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Pastimes : I Love to Fish -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Angler who wrote (529)	12/25/2000 6:20:47 PM
From: Snowshoe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1412

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To: Angler who wrote (529)	2/14/2001 12:52:39 AM
From: Jon Koplik	Respond to of 1412

NYT article about coelacanths (the ''living fossil'' fish). I have always been fascinated by these fish. Jon. ******************** February 14, 2001 Scientists Hope to Catalog South African Coelacanths By REUTERS JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - A population of ''living fossils'' unexpectedly discovered off South Africa's coast late last year may soon be studied up close and cataloged with the help of a small submersible craft. For a fish thought to have died out 70 million years ago, the Coelacanth has been doing remarkably well. The first specimen, caught off South Africa by a trawler in 1938, was considered by many to be the zoological find of the century, but more have since been reported. The most recent find was made by divers four months ago. ``We are tentatively looking at March or April and hope to have two to three weeks of diving with the craft to begin studying the South African coelacanths,'' said biologist Philip Heemstra with the JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology. ``Our preliminary budget is one million rand ($130,000) and that should give us two to three weeks of diving. I'm trying to raise it through corporate sponsors,'' he told Reuters, adding that if it was not possible this year he hoped to have the cash lined up in 2002. Fossil records show the coelacanth -- dubbed ``old four legs'' because of its extra fins -- has been swimming the seas for as long as 400 million years. In the 1950s, specimens were found near the Comoro Islands off Africa's southeast coast, leading scientists to speculate that those netted off South Africa had drifted far from home. The fish are found only at depths of 100 yards or more below the surface and are nocturnal, hiding in caves by day, which made it all but impossible to observe them in their natural habitat. A German expedition in 1987 finally observed live coelacanths for the first time from a submersible craft off the Comoro Islands. A new population came to light in Indonesia 10 years later when an American marine biologist came across one in a fish market. But living specimens off South Africa, which has long considered itself to be the ``home'' of old four legs because of the 1938 catch, remained elusive until the discovery in October by deep-water technical divers off Sodwana Bay on the country's stunningly beautiful northeastern coast. FIRST COELACANTHS SEEN AND FILMED BY SCUBA DIVERS The October sighting of three coelacanths -- the first ever by scuba divers -- led to a November expedition that resulted in three of the fish, ranging in length from three to six feet, being caught on film at a depth of 380 feet. The expedition was marred by tragedy as one member of the team died after surfacing without proper decompression. The footage showed the fish on the edge of a canyon in their classic vertical position, seeming to stand on their heads. ``There is an organ in the coelacanth's snout called the rostral organ, which we believe is electroreceptive,'' Heemstra said. ``We believe they may use it to scan the bottom for prey. Each coelacanth has a unique pattern of white markings. ... This way we can get an estimate of the size of the population.'' This is important as South Africa's coelacanths may simply number a few, which could suggest they may simply have strayed down the Mozambique Channel from their home waters. ``I would like to know how many there are in South African waters and to establish if there is a viable population or not. The individuals sighted may be drifters from the Comoro Islands,'' Hans Fricke, a German scientist who will lead the submersible expedition, told Reuters. Fricke, who has had a lifelong passion for the fish, has been to the Comoros with his submersible several times and has identified and cataloged 109 adult coelacanths there. ``We believe there are 200 to 300 adults off Grand Comore and a few more have been sighted off Anjouan,'' he said by telephone from the Seewiesen Research Institute south of Munich. Curiously, juveniles have never been sighted and Fricke admits he has no idea why. Perhaps they are only found at depths his minisub cannot reach -- it only goes to 1,30 feet -- or perhaps they spend their time at an unknown location elsewhere. Fricke said he has his fingers crossed regarding South Africa's population. ``I really hope South Africa has a sustainable population of coelacanths because then the story goes full circle and comes back to South Africa.'' Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company