Zanzibar fishermen land ancient fish

Zanzibar fishermen land ancient fish

www.msnbc.msn.com

Fishermen in Zanzibar have caught a coelacanth, an ancient fish once thought to have become extinct when it disappeared from fossil records 80 million years ago, an official said on Sunday.
The coelacanth, known from fossil records dating back more than 360 million years, was believed to have become extinct some 80 million years ago until one was caught off the eastern coast of South Africa in 1938 -- a major zoological find.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 16/7/2007 by enjoies05]

This shows again that we don't really know what is and isn't out there anymore, and could maybe give hope to finding other species that we thought were extinct too.

www.msnbc.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

It really is pretty cool. It's odd that we can tell the atmospheric makeup of a planet light years away, but we can't tell you what's living in our oceans. I wonder what else is in the great deep ocean trenches that we don't know about?

Uhh... they've been catching coelacanths in that area for like 70 years now.

So, it's not exactly the Earth-shattering news it was seven decades ago.

known from fossil records dating back more than 360 million years, was believed to have become extinct some 80 million years ago until one was caught off the eastern coast of South Africa in 1938 -- a major zoological find.

None has since been caught in South African waters, but around 30 have been caught in recent years off Tanzania, possibly because diminishing shallow water resources have forced fishermen to cast their nets in the deeper waters where coelacanths live, experts say.

Another coelacanth was caught in the seas off Indonesia's North Sulawesi province in May, 2007.

It doesn't seem to be as rare a find as once first made out, but still it is an impressive find. Perhaps they will prove to be not as rare as once thought if fishermen keep venturing into deeper waters.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
So, it's not exactly the Earth-shattering news it was seven decades ago.

No one said it was Earth shattering news. I thought it was interesting that a species we thought were extinct were found and still being found today.

Originally posted by enjoies05
No one said it was Earth shattering news. I thought it was interesting that a species we thought were extinct were found and still being found today.

I think it's a neat and newsworthy event EVERY time one of these creatures is caught and I appreciate the fact that you made this thread.

Glad to hear it!

These fish have always amazed me, no-one really knows why they've survived for so long and they are a useful tool in any crypto's arsenal. Being able to refer to a creature that has been on the planet for so long and remained hidden is amazing.

Definitely news worthy, more people need to know about them.

It has been said many times that we will likely have visited most of the planets in our solar system, before we manage to explore more than half of the deep oceans.

I suppose we are just so used to trying to see whats out there, that we've forgotten that we barely know much about where we are now.


Still though, I'm not so sure we should venture down there. Whats down there is likely sensitive, and our primitive means of study would probably do some harm... whereas, in space, you're not really afraid of hurting anything... other than your self.

I wonder how they taste? Their name seems to suggest that they would be good served with a side dish of cole slaw.

I may be missing something, but I thought this was really old news?

Don't get me wrong I was fascinated by the idea when I read it happened but that was years ago. I was under the impression they were catching these ancient fishies off an on for quite some time now. Someone even mentioned it in a car commercial I believe.

Is this story different somehow?

=D Yay, let us catch the thought to be extinct fish so we can make sure it's extinct =D.

Seriously, what are they doing with those caught fishes, eating them? Or throwing them back?

Seems to me there should be a priority on protecting them, since they were rumoured to be extinct.

Good find, always good to see a very rare species surviving. I wander why this fish stopped evolving while most other life kept on changing around it.

Maybe someone will catch old Nessie next? Wouldn't that be cool to finally know if it's real, or just a tall tale?

Thanks for the info Enjoies