05-03-2004, 09:46 PM
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![[Image: coelacan.jpg]](http://www.unmuseum.org/coelacan.jpg)
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can you name me?
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05-03-2004, 09:46 PM
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05-04-2004, 06:12 AM
thats way to easy just not sure if i van spell it right chelocant
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05-04-2004, 06:17 AM
[center][font "Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]The Coelacanth[/font][/center]
![]() [font "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"] ![]() [font "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]Mark Erdmann, a marine biologist from the University of California, was enjoying his 1997 honeymoon vacation in Indonesian when his new bride asked about a strange blue fish she saw in the market. Erdmann's mouth dropped open as he recognized the animal as a coelacanth. Erdmann knew that the fish was a member of a rare species and that until 1938 scientists had thought it had gone extinct with the dinosaurs. He also knew that at one time the fish was only thought to have lived off the Comoro Islands near Africa, but figured that they must have been discovered in Indonesia since then. It wasn't until Erdmann posted his honeymoon pictures, including one of the fish, on the web and he'd gotten a call from two coelacanth researchers at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, that he realized he'd stumbled upon a major scientific discovery: The coelacanth had a additional habitat some 6000 miles away from the original ones.[/font] [left]Despite the excitement of the find, the internal organs of the fish could had not been preserved for examination. Smith knew it was important to find another, intact specimen so it could be completely described. No more coelacanths were found off the coast of South Africa in the next ten years and Smith became convinced that the one that had been netted by the [size 3]Nerine[/size] was a stray. Smith thought that the home grounds of the creature might be north near the Mozambique channel, so he had posters printed up in English, French and Portuguese with a drawing of the Coelacanth. The posters, which offered a reward of one-hundred pounds to anyone who could turn in a complete beast, were distributed in the surrounding area.[/left] [left]In December of 1952 they got a cable from an acquaintance, Captain Eric Hunt, who was in the Comoros Islands, saying that he had gotten a hold of a coelacanth and was trying to preserved it for Smith with the small amount of formalin that he had. The fish had been caught by a man named Ahamadi Abdallah on the island of Anjouan. Abdallah was about to clean the fish he'd caught when a local teacher showed him one of the leaflets printed by Smith. There was a picture of the fish along with the instructions "Do not cut it or clean it or scale it, but take it at once to some responsible person." Legend has it that Abdallah dragged this 82-pound cargo twenty-five miles over mountains by foot, but in reality he probably hitched a ride on a truck. Once on the other side he presented it to Hunt, who recognized it as the fish Smith was seeking.[/left] [left]Smith immediately wanted to travel to the Comoros, but there were no commercial airports and what private airfields there were had problems getting fuel. Smith was concerned knowing that the Comoros had no refrigeration facilities. He wasn't sure if Hunt had enough formalin to properly preserve the specimen in the heat. Also, since the fish had been caught on French soil there was a danger that it would be claimed by the French. Smith finally got the South African prime minister to give him a military plane for the trip. The plane landed and after an agonizing delay caused by a courtesy call on the governor, Smith got to Hunt's ship where he examined the specimen. Smith later admitted during a live radio program that he cried when he first saw the fish. Hours later he was on his way back home, through a torrential rain. Smith was right about the French. After he left, the government banned foreign scientists from collecting coelacanths for the next decade and a half.[/left] [left]In 1991 scientists got a better understanding of the fish when Mike Bruton, of the JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology joined with Hans Fricke, of the Max Planchk Instate to study the fish off the Comoros Islands. Fricke had built his own submarine so he could study the coelacanth in its natural habitat. The animal hides in underwater caves some 300 to 700 feet down during the day and comes out at night to feed.[/left] [left]The class of fish to which the Coelacanth belongs to appeared some 400 to 350 million years ago. Scientists theorize that it is closely related to the first four-limbed land animals. Local Comoran fishermen had been aware of the carnivorous coelacanth (which is Greek for "hollow spine") for years before Smith's discovery, but since it was not edible they had not been interested in it, though it had been given the Comoran name Gombessa. [left]Originally it was a concern that the Coelacanth might have a very limited range and that overfishing along the Comoros Islands might wipe it out. Scientists were amazed when in 1997 another coelacanth was discovered by an American scientist in Indonesia more than 6000 miles away from the Comoros. In October of 2000 divers off South Africa happened on three coelacanths in the St. Lucia Marine Protected Area. These findings suggest that the original fish caught by the [size 3]Nerine[/size] was not a stray and that this "living fossil" may have a much wider range than was first thought. [font "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]Also known as the Kombessa. [/font][/left] ![]() [/left] [signature]
05-11-2004, 07:54 PM
What a great article Daymere, I have read about that fish before. Wish I could catch one, take a picture, and release it.
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05-11-2004, 08:36 PM
Those things were around the same time the Tarpon were roaming the earth. I do know that the Tarpon still exist and they are in several of the North and Central American countries.
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05-12-2004, 03:59 AM
would love to see one too
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