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Yoshitaka Abe, Executive Director of the Aquamarine
Fukushima in Japan, who
are currently conducting an ROV survey along the coast of Sulawesi has informed us of a coelacanth sighting on the morning of the 30th of May 2006 at
8:30am. The fish was found offshore at 170m in water of 17 degrees celcius near
to the town of Buol on Sulawesi in Indonesia.
The island
of Manado Tua just off Sulawesi some 350km to the East was the site where
coelacanths were originally found and described from accidental catches in deep
set gillnets. Earlier investigations in 1999 using the German submersible Jago
found two coelacanths some 360km southwest of Manado Tua. Submersible searches
around Manado Tua itself were unsuccessful in locating any coelacanths.
A further two coelacanths were found on the 31st of May, and reports indicate
the area has many small caves between 150-170m.
ACEP and the Aquamarine Fukushima recently singed a Memorandum of Understanding
to foster relationships between the two organisations particularly on
coelacanth research.
We will keep you up to date with the news as we learn it.
Rik Nulens has let us know about a short video clip taken from Japanese TV, which you can find here.
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