March 17, 2004 — Tanzanian fishermen have caught a coelacanth, a living fossil that dates back to before the time of the dinosaurs, a senior conservation official said on Tuesday.

"Coelacanth is a rare species of fish, which the world of science regarded as extinct," Tanzanian Marine Parks and Reserves Manager Chikambi Rumisha told AFP.

Coelacanths appear in fossils dating back to over 360 million years ago, but none have been found in fossils younger than 80 million years.



In December 1938, said Rumisha, South African marine scientists suddenly came across the coelacanth, leading to increased scientific interest about the creature.

Rumisha said that Tanzanian fishermen caught the rare fish on Sunday around Kilwa area, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Dar es Salaam, and surrendered it to government authorities.

"This was the second time within six months that the fishermen from the same area have caught coelacanth," Rumisha said.

He said the fish was protected species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, and pointed out that the existence of rare species of marine life in the Indian Ocean close to the Tanzanian coast indicated that the area was rich in biodiversity.

Adding that Tanzanian fishermen recently found a dugong, or sea cow, on Mafia Island, Rumisha said: "This is testimony that the area is rich in marine biodiversity and concerted effort (is) now needed in conservation of these endangered creatures."

Very cool. I read something a while back written by a scientist that said the oceans are 90% unexplored. Here we are spending billions of dollars exploring desolate planets when we haven't even made a dent in sea exploration and spend a mere fraction of that money on just that. There used to be water on Mars... big deal. The oceans are being depleted and are dying - lets explore this planet first.

That's pretty cool. I bet the scientists are excited.

too bad its a dead fossil now...

That is one impressive fossil.

Just what I was thinking. One of only a handful left... and that handful is 'minus one' now.

Makes perfect sense.

2nd time in 6 months though? Could their numbers be on the rise again?

G

A fishy stories?

Save the wimmens and chillruns!!!! Shoot all the fish!!!!!!

Wonder if they are any good to eat

Those fish are tasty with a little lemon butter and garlic.