Essay, Research Paper: The Ceolacanthe

The Coelacanth is a large fish that is closely related to today's lungfish. These two fishes are the lobe-finned fishes left on the earth. They're called lobe-finned fishes because of a muscular lobe they have at the base of each fin. The Coelacanth is believed to have been around since about 350 million years ago. The amazing thing about the Coelacanth is that modern ones are almost identical in every way to ancient ones found fossilized in sedimentary rock. Another amazing thing about this fish is that scientists believe that it is the closest living relative to the first fish to ever live on land, which is said to have been the beginning of modern amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds.

At one time, scientists believed that the Coelacanth had been gone from the face of the earth for about 70 million years. They had uncovered many fossils in sedimentary rock, and they used those fossils to learn anything and everything they could learn about this mystery fish. When dated, all of these fossils were determined to be from more than 70 million years ago, and were gone from recent fossil records. Nowhere in recorded history was any documents, drawings, descriptions, or any sign at all of sightings of the Coelacanth. Biologists had hit a dead end in determining things about the Coelacanth. There was nothing at all for them to study, no clues, nothing at all. Nothing, that is, until 1938. In December of 1938, a fishing trawler was cruising along the waters near the eastern coast of South Africa. This is how the first living Coelacanth ever recorded in written history was discovered. Scientists around the world were taken by surprise and went to work immediately on finding and studying these elusive creatures.

Since that day, many catches and sightings of Coelacanths have been reported. Using information of sightings and finds, biologists concluded that Coelacanths only resided in or around the Comoros islands. The Comoros islands are a small group of volcanic islands located between southeastern Africa and Madagascar. This led to the belief that Coelacanths lived only in a certain area in the western Indian Ocean. This is believed as fact for many years until 1998, when another population of Coelacanths were observed and reported about 6000 miles east of the Comoros. This groups was first reported near the island of Sulawesi, located in eastern Indonesia. This group has been put under many scientific studies. These studies have found that these Coelacanths are very different from the Coelacanths found to the west. To date, these two species of Coelacanths are the only two that have been discovered. It has been estimated that only a small number of Coelacanths (200-500) still exist in the west. This is causing much concern in the science world. The Coelacanth is labeled as "vulnerable" by the World Conservation Union. This means that there is concern of the Coelacanth becoming extinct in the near future, if proper actions are not taken quick enough.

After being officially discovered and being named one of the most important zoological finds in recent times, many people, especially fishermen, realized that they had been making a terrible mistake. Fishermen and fishing companies in the Indian Ocean had been catching and netting Coelacanths all along, but they had no idea how rare and important these fish were. To them, the Coelacanths were simply a nuisance, and were discarded or thrown back. It was also discovered that people living in the region caught these fish and ate them, after drying and salting them. Now that the people have more information, many are being careful not to harm Coelacanths, but the discoveries and warnings about them could be bad news also. For, rare fish collectors and aquariums, the new warnings and discoveries were just a checkered flag to begin the hunt. Even though precautionary measures are being taken, and customs officials in India are now being educated about Coelacanths, the only hope for this rare fish may be to go into hiding for 70 million more years.