Photo of rare Indonesian coelacanth

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Photo of rare Indonesian coelacanth
mongabay.com
May 22, 2007

Reuters has published photos taken of the rare coelacanth captured off the northern coast of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on May 19, 2007. The coelacanth is fish species that dates back more than 400 million years in the fossil record.

Yustinus Lahama, an Indonesian fisherman, and his son caught the "living fossil" in the sea off North Sulawesi province. The fish lived for 17 hours before expiring—an unusually long time for the deep-water species to survive at surface level. The coelacanth measured 1.31 meters (four feet) long and weighted 51 kilograms (112 pounds), according to reports.

The coelacanth was believed extinct since the age of the dinosaurs until an individual was captured off the coast of Southern African in 1938. Since then the fish has been found along the south-east African and in Indonesia, The species is notable for its heavy body armor and prehistoric appearance.

Generally found at depths exceeding 300 feet (90 m), coelacanths occasionally show up in fish markets in Africa and Indonesia, usually captured as by-catch by fishermen seeking deepwater species. The fish are believed to be sexually mature at 20 years and live to 80-100 years old.

Yustinus Lahama with the coelacanth. Photo by a Reuters stringer.

Latimeria chalumnae>

There are two recognized species of coelacanth, the "blue" species (Latimeria chalumnae) from the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa and the "brown" species (Latimeria menadoensis) from Indonesia. The Indonesian species was first scientifically described in 1999 and has only been documented on a handful of occasions.

This report used information from the Associated Press and Reuters.

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