Environment Planet Possible India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big. Environment As the EU targets emissions cuts, this country has a coal problem. Paid Content How Hong Kong protects its sea sanctuaries. History Magazine These 3,year-old giants watched over the cemeteries of Sardinia. Science Coronavirus Coverage What families can do now that kids are getting the vaccine. Magazine How one image captures 21 hours of a volcanic eruption.
Science Why it's so hard to treat pain in infants. Science The controversial sale of 'Big John,' the world's largest Triceratops. Science Coronavirus Coverage How antivirals may change the course of the pandemic. Travel A road trip in Burgundy reveals far more than fine wine. Travel My Hometown In L. Coelacanth, an extremely rare species of fish, which was once thought to have gone extinct with the dinosaurs millions of years ago, has been found alive in the Indian Ocean.
A report by Mongabay, a US-based non-profit conservation and environmental science news platform, states that the deep sea fish hunters were responsible for the appearances of the coelacanth over the decades. In fact, the first living coelacanth was caught in , when a group of fishers set gill-nets off the southwest coast of Madagascar in deeper waters. The increasing demand for shark fins and oil have prompted hunters to fish in deeper waters, leading to the discovery of the rare species on the coasts off South Africa, Tanzania, and the Comoros Islands.
Ernande said the researchers were astounded when they figured out the coelacanth's record gestation period, which exceeds the 3. The researchers said late sexual maturity and a lengthy gestation period, combined with low fecundity and a small population size, makes coelacanths particularly sensitive to natural or human-caused environmental disturbances such as extreme climate events or too much accidental fishing. Subscribe for our daily curated newsletter to receive the latest exclusive Reuters coverage delivered to your inbox.
More from Reuters. Sign up for our newsletter Subscribe for our daily curated newsletter to receive the latest exclusive Reuters coverage delivered to your inbox. One of the most interesting features of the Coelacanth, is that it has paired fins which move in a similar fashion to our arms and legs. Meristic counts see Smith, for L. A few days before Christmas in , a Coelacanth was caught at the mouth of the Chalumna River on the east coast of South Africa. The fish was caught in a shark gill net by Captain Goosen and his crew, who had no idea of the significance of their find.
They thought the fish was bizarre enough to alert the local museum in the small South African town of East London. She alerted the prominent south African ichthyologist Dr J. Smith to this amazing discovery. The Coelacanth was eventually named scientific name: Latimeria chalumnae in honour of Miss Courtney-Latimer.
In a Coelacanth was caught in Sulawesi, Indonesia. The only obvious difference between it and the Coelacanth from the Comoros Islands was the colour. The Comoros Coelacanth is renowned for its steel blue colour, whereas fish from the Sulawesi population were reported to be brown.
This Coelacanth specimen caught in led to the discovery of the first documented population, off the Comoros Islands, between Africa and Madagascar. For sixty years this was presumed to be the only Coelacanth population in existence. On 6th September the first coelacanth was caught in the southern part of Tanzania at Songo Mnara making Tanzania the sixth country to record the presence of the L.
Since then, 35 coelacanths have been recorded in Tanzania ranging from Tanga in the north, south to Mtwara. The Nungwi specimen is the 36th coelacanth to be caught in Tanzania and the first for Zanzibar.
Narriman Jiddawi is acknowledged for providing this information and the image. On July 30 , a Coelacanth was caught in a deep-water shark net by local fishers off the volcanic island of Manado Tua in northern Sulawesi, Indonesia. This is about 10 km east of the Western Indian Ocean Coelacanth population.
The fisher brought the fish to the house of American biologist Mark Erdmann who along with his wife Arnaz had seen a specimen in the outdoor markets the previous September. The local people were familiar with the Coelacanth and called it raja laut or 'king of the sea'. This fish turned out to be a new species. The discovery of this new Coelacanth in Sulawesi, opens up the possibility that Coelacanths may be more widespread and abundant than was previously assumed.
Recent research indiicates that the Coelacanth may be monogamous. It was captured off the Comoros Islands, and purchased by the Trustees of the Australian Museum in It was then sent by air to the Australian Museum.
0コメント