"Extinct" Coelacanth Hooked in Sulawesi Waters

[PinayDiver]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...oelacanth.html

A four-foot (1.2-meter), 110-pound (50-kilogram) deep-sea dweller that lived 17 hours in a quarantine pool, sigh

[PinayDiver]

http://www.planetmole.org/daily/fish...-sulawesi.html

This story (link above) includes a photo of this "living fossil" out of the water and on the (operating?) table.


Also, a week ago, this video (of fishermen turning over the live Coelacanth) was uploaded on You Tube (thanks to Sarah for reposting). It was simply caught on a line! Video viewers commented (perhaps in self-consolation) that even if the fishermen released it, it would have eventually died anyway because of the change in pressure.

[Sarah]

Well, if the fish swam back down to depth, would it have just recompressed providing it didn't as of yet suffer any permanent damage?

To see a video of such a creature is amazing! Thanks for the find Lu-Anne!

[PinayDiver]

Well, if the fish swam back down to depth, would it have just recompressed providing it didn't as of yet suffer any permanent damage?

For that, we need a man of science. DrBill, calling DrBill

[allisonfinch]

So sad....
I saw a video, years ago, of deep sea footage of of Madagascar. It showed five of them living on the bottom. They used their lobe fins to scull the water so that they can hang under and around rocky strata. They were really cool!

BTW, I couldn't finish watching the slow throes of that fish dying on the video.

[PinayDiver]

BTW, I couldn't finish watching the slow throes of that fish dying on the video.

I know what you mean. I can't stand footages of albatrosses caught on a longline, sea turtles dying from ingesting plastic, even an animation (geesh) of polar bears drowning because of eroding sea ice...it's in the wiring *shrug*

[DrBill]

Wow... I guess I haven't logged on since May. Sorry about that. I know relatively little about coelocanths. However, if their swim bladders over expand upon being brought to the surface, they probably would not be able to return to depth due to the floatation. It's a long way back down. If their swim bladders were punctured to release the trapped air, they might die of infection.

First time I ever saw a coelocanth, I was walking through the basement storeage areas in Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology. I turned a corner and there was a preserved coelocanth in a large glass jar. It was amazing to find it just sitting there in storage.

[PinayDiver]

Aaah, thanks DrBill. Turns out, your timing is still good; your explanation and anecdote (naturalists have the most interesting encounters) arrived on my birthday! Enlightenment as present