A UNITED States-based mini-submarine shipped to South Africa this week to film a shipwreck may be used to survey the rare coelacanth fish, once thought to be extinct.
The JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology?s marine fishes curator, Phil Heemstra, said the institute hoped to conduct a survey of the 400-million-year old species of fish. Visuals could help scientists determine whether the six coelacanths, which live in rocky caves and overhangs deep underwater, form part of a viable population.
The Delta mini-sub, which weights in at 2.2 tonnes and can dive to a depth of 365m, was shipped to Durban this week to begin filming the 90-year-old wreck of the passenger ship Waratah off South Africa’s east coast.
Heemstra said the institute would need to raise about R1m in the next few weeks to use the submersible to survey six coelacanth discovered off the northeastern coast last month.
“We are trying to urgently raise the funds to do so” he said.
The money is needed to pay for a ship big enough to carry the large crane necessary to lower the sub into the sea.
“Each coelacanth has unique white markings so with photographs we can get an idea about the size of the population, identify individuals and track their movements,” Heemstra said.
Very little is known about the juveniles, as few had ever been seen. It is understood that the juveniles probably live about 700m below the surface – twice the depth to which the Delta can descend.
Previously the fish were thought to exist only around the Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean, but they have also subsequently been discovered off the Indonesian coast.
The coelacanth, jokingly referred to as the “dinofish”, is believed to have been around for about 370 million years. – AFP