Living Fossil

Glimpses of a coelacanth

For years, British Cameraman Peter Scoones has had an unlikely dream. A dedicated scuba diver, he wanted to photograph a live coelacanth (pronounced seal-ah-kanlh), the ancient, almost legendary, stump-legged fish which once was believed to have died out soon after the dinosaurs. Now this paparazzo of the deep has nailed his prey. Last week Scoones released rare color photographs of one of these "living fossils," swimming contentedly for his camera in the Indian Ocean off the Comoro Islands near the Malagasy Republic.

On assignment for the BBC, Scoones started his search by dragging an underwater television camera along the seabed in depths of about 300 meters (1,000 ft.) off the Comoros. On board his small boat, he patiently watched the TV monitor for a glimpse of the fish that had only been known from the earth's fossil record until the accidental discovery of a living specimen by a British biologist some 40 years ago. Since then, fishermen have caught two dozen more live coelacanths in their nets Unfortunately, the creatures, which grow to about 1.5 meters (5 ft.), weigh about 70 kg (150 Ibs.) and possess four large fins -apparently the evolutionary beginnings of limbs -usually were dead by the time they reached scientists.

Scoones was not even as lucky as the fishermen. A week into the hunt, the cable to his camera snagged and broke, the equipment was lost, and his frustrated TV crew promptly returned to England. Only a few days later a volcano erupted on Great Comoro. With lava flowing toward the sea, frantic natives commandeered Scoones' boat as an emergency vessel.

Next morning, a disappointed and weary Scoones was shaken out of bed by an excited islander. A full-grown coelacanth had been caught, he was told. It was still alive, lashed under a fisherman's canoe. With only a mask and snorkel, Scoones ventured underwater to free his battle-fatigued quarry, then nudged the fish into a current. That was enough to revive the coelacanth for the camera. Pictures taken, Scoones returned the big catch to the natives -for sale, of course, to scientists. qed

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.