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The discovery of the iconic coelacanth - a fish previously considered extinct - off the coast of South Africa in 1938 (75 years ago in December 2013) set in motion an urgent quest to learn more about it. In the process a rich, diverse legacy of research in South Africa has followed in its wake.
However, 'ol Four Legs still continues to baffle scientists, and this rare and endangered fish remains as mysterious today than when we first set eyes on it 75 years ago.
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| The event was an opportunity to celebrate the collaboration between ACEP and SANParks, which sees the Research Vessel Kadouw being added to the marine research platform. This will extend the scope for growth for the programme and allow it to service more partners. |
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A major component of ACEP is the Phuhlisa Development programme run in collaboration with the University of Fort Hare and Walter Sisulu University. Students from these universities were present at the celebration and engaged enthusiastically with the exhibitions. |
Marine researchers, managers and policy makers from around the country gathered in Port Elizabeth to celebrate the impact of this discovery on marine science in South Africa. In his opening address, Dr Thomas Auf der Heyde, Deputy Director General of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), compared the significance of the discovery to the first human heart transplant and other seminal events in the way that it has shaped the science landscape in its field in South Africa.
The original discovery in 1938 put South Africa on the map in terms of Ichthyology. The re-discovery in South Africa in 2000 off Sodwana Bay then led to the formation of the African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme (ACEP), which over the past 12 years has taken a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional approach to ecosystem research and has expanded that legacy to other fields of marine science, encouraging collaboration and sharing of resources, knowledge and experience, proving that a whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
As ACEP grows and extends its reach, we were able to use the event to welcome South African National Parks (SANParks) on board with the handover of the research vessel Kadouw. This will certainly strengthen the ACEP platform, provide scope for growth and allow service to more partners from further afield.
Two citizen science awards were presented on the evening to recognise the contributions of members of the public who have played tremendous roles in coelacanth research nationally and internationally. Peter Timm, of Triton Dive Lodge, was on the team that discovered the South African coelacanth population off Sodwana in 2000 and has been diving with coelacanths regularly ever since. He has shared his knowledge with every coelacanth expedition to have taken place in the area.
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| SAIAB's Acoustic Tracking Array Platform (ATAP), established by Dr Paul Cowley, is a collaborative marine science programme which comprises an expanded network of automated data-logging receivers, most of which are supplied by the Canadian-based Ocean Tracking Network (OTN). Competitive access to the ATAP array was made available through the ACEP Open Call. Dr Amber Childs (left) is a member of the research team and Ms Taryn Murray (right) is a PhD student on one such project led by Principal Investigator, Dr Malcolm Smale from Bayworld. This project is using ATAP's network of ultrasonic listening stations in Algoa Bay and other nodes along the South African coast to establish movement patterns of four marine predators in an effort to guide management practices of the species. |
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ACEP put out a competitive Open Call to the marine research community in 2012: Dr Francesca Porri (SAIAB) (left), is Principal Investigator on a project investigating bentho-pelagic mechanisms of inshore coastal waters, Dr Toufiek Samaai (DEA) (right) is Principal Investigator of an assessment of benthic biodiversity on Walters Shoals and Dr Sven Kerwath (DAFF) (centre) is a researcher on the same project. These and three other ACEP projects are multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional, supporting a range of contributing researchers and contributing to the growth of the marine science community through student supervision. |
Rik Nulens from Belgium has, over the past 19 years, compiled a database of coelacanth literature and a catalogue of all known specimens, assisting over 120 researchers world-wide and contributing to the Dinofish website. ACEP thanked them both for the work they had done.
ACEP and its partners used the opportunity to showcase their work and exhibited some of the highlights from the past 12 years including SAEON's Sentinel Site, the ACEP Open Call and Phuhlisa programmes, the impact of the ASCLME, SAIAB's Acoustic Telemetry Array Platform (ATAP), ACEP and SAEON's outreach programmes and South African coelacanth research.
SAIAB published a special publication, Building on the South African Coelacanth Legacy, to mark this seminal event. Download this publication
Why the coelacanth is still so mysterious
- Before 1938 it was believed to be extinct – the only evidence of its existence was in the fossil record;
- There are still many unanswered questions about it, for example:
- What is the extent of its distribution? There are only a few "found" populations;
- How long does it live for?
- Where do juveniles go after birth until they become adult?
- Why is there such a range in their adult sizes?
- What is its place in the evolutionary ladder?
- Why do they live at such varying depths?
- Are they only nocturnal? They seem to prefer to hide in caves during the day - even on bright or moonlit nights
- How do they cope with the strong currents down the east coast, and do they drift or travel, or are they territorial?
- What are the links between individuals?
NOTE: The coelacanth's unique genome sequence has just been unravelled by an international team of 40 scientists that has been working on the project for 13 years.
Why the coelacanth is so fascinating
- It is electric blue in colour;
- Its fins are lobed, unlike the fins of other fish, and which, before it was seen alive, led scientists to believe it 'walked on the sea floor';
- Unlike most other fish it has no backbone, instead it has a hollow tube down its spine that contains a type of oil - this gives it its name, which is an adaptation of Modern Latin Cœlacanthus, meaning "hollow spine", from Greek koilos meaning "hollow" + akantha meaning "spine";
- It is an opportunistic, ambush predator, and it has primitive teeth, so it doesn't chew its prey. Instead the top of its skull is hinged, which allows it to swallow large prey whole (like a snake). It is thought to use electrical impulses to help detect its prey;
- It can swim upside down;
- It has a reflective layer in the eye (like a cat or a dog), which allows it to see in dim light;
- It has hard, bony scales, with small tooth-like projections, called denticles;
- It congregates in non-aggressive groups of up to 13 individuals;
- Females are larger than males and give 'birth' to live pups; and,
- Each individual has distinctive markings – a different configuration of white blotches - which researchers can use to identify them
- Old Fourlegs; Ghost fish; Raja Laut (King of the Sea – Indonesia); Fossil fish; Living fossil; Dinofish; a fish out of time; Gombessa (in Comores this means 'Taboo' – due to its apparent foul taste).
- It has been described as looking like a cross between a potato bass and an armadillo!
By Penny Haworth, Manager: Communications & Governance, SAIAB
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