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Until the discovery of the Indonesian population, all but three known coelacanth catches occurred in the Comoro Archipelago. The others, including the 1938 coelacanth, were assumed to be strays swept south by the strong current off Mozambique. |
This map shows the distribution of known coelacanth populations (after a map that appeared in Nature on September 24, 1998). |
Dr. Hans Fricke and his team members are the only people to have seen coelacanths alive and unstressed (all coelacanths ever caught and brought to the surface have died, despite efforts to keep them alive by returning them to deeper water). They observed coelacanths resting in lava caves of up to three metres long during the day, and drifting out at night, presumably to feed. The habitats of the Indonesian and Comoran populations appear similar.
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Although the Indonesian coelacanth was caught in a shark gill-net set at a depth of 100 to 150 m, the majority of coelacanths observed by Fricke's team were recorded at depths between 180 and 210 m. Temperature readings suggest that coelacanths tend to move in waters that are cooler than 18°C. It is thought that coelacanths become deoxygenated in the warmer waters they are pulled through during capture, and that this, combined with the additional stress of struggle, kills all that are caught. |
Hook, line and sinker. This equipment is typically used by Comoran fishers to catch oilfish. |
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