Modern Coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae

The Canadian Museum of Nature preserves its coelacanth in ethanol. It was originally fixed in a 10% formalin solution, because formalin kills bacteria, stops all biological processes, and stiffens the specimen. Nature uses ethanol as a preservative for long-term storage for most "wet" specimens.

A modern specimen of the coelacanth species, Latimeria chalumnae.
Catalogue: CMNFI1969-0112

Because of their limited distribution and small populations, all species of Latimeria are protected under the Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES). Fricke and his colleagues have estimated the number of living individuals around the Comoros to be 500. Discovery of the Indonesian population is welcome news, and further expeditions between the locations of the two populations may find others. The collecting of specimens of this animal is illegal, and most observers believe that the four or so that are found each year are caught accidentally.

Coelacanths have never been known to be sought by fishers, and are not eaten. Around the Comoro islands, fishers use hand lines from outrigger canoes and catch coelacanths when they are hoping for oilfish, which are used to aid digestion and treat malaria. Outside the Comoros, coelacanths have only been caught using gill-nets.

Efforts to change the habits of local line-fishers take them outside the catch-range of the coelacanth. Fish attractors and motorized canoes, provided through foreign aid, temporarily relieved the pressure on the coelacanth, but fell into disrepair and disuse when the aid funds dried up. As the average annual income in the Comoro Archipelago was about $30 US in 1987, this isn't surprising.

Researchers studying the coelacanth are trying to prevent its extinction only 60 years after it became known to science, and after 305 million years on Earth.

Where in the World?

In the Museum