The coelacanth rediscovered
Jago has already shown its worth. Taking the craft for its first dive off Sodwana on March 31, Fricke and team member Jurgen Schauer took less than four hours to re-discover the coelacanth, sighting the same individual that Piet Venter and his team of divers discovered in November 2000. Coelacanths can be identified from the pattern of their spots, which like fingerprints in humans are unique.
Three days later, Jago spotted the same coelacanth along with six others in a cave at 113 metres. “These coelacanths appeared to be quite curious, several ... came out of the cave to inspect Jago”, the SA Coelacanth Conservation and Genome Research Programme says on its web site. “This is unusual because normally coelacanths remain passively within caves throughout the day. At night, coelacanths leave the caves to hunt for food.”
Jago being
loaded onto the Algoa in Cape Town before setting off for Sodwana Bay (Picture: SA Coelacanth Conservation and Genome Resource Programme)
Altogether three of these coelacanths had been photographed in 2000, and one of the females appeared to be pregnant, suggesting that the South African population is larger than previously thought, and consists of resident breeding groups. Coelacanths are known to carry up to 26 pups, with a gestation period thought to be in the region of 13 months.
The coelacanth is thought to live mainly in the Indian Ocean, although specimens have recently been found off Indonesia. Since 1938, specimens have also been found off Mozambique, Madagascar, Comores and Kenya, with an unconfirmed catch off Tanzania.
The Sodwana population, however, is by far the most accessible found to date. The coelacanth is a large, mainly nocturnal, deep-water predatory fish.
Announcing
plans for the research programme in February, Minister Ngubane said South Africa had much of the expertise and facilities required to conduct “a multi-disciplinary, well-rounded programme that could set a model for coelacanth studies internationally.”
At the same time, Ngubane said, the programme would act as a vehicle for promoting public understanding of science.
“For South Africa to be globally competitive, it needs a solid base of highly skilled professionals in science, engineering and technology. The first step in building this base is to remove the cultural barriers that still block the majority of our people from taking part in science, engineering and technology.
“We need to demystify science and take it into the cultural mainstream so that everyone can participate in it on an equal basis”, Ngubane said.
“The plans for environmental education and the popularisation of the coelacanth programme, by capturing the imagination of all, and particularly the
involvement of children in the villages and schools using a variety of media, will excite and encourage them to follow careers in science and technology.”
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