Foreign, local experts search for ancient fish
Foreign, local experts search for ancient fish
JAKARTA (JP): A joint Indonesian-German marine expedition will
leave Muara Baru harbor in North Jakarta on Friday for a five-
week voyage searching for the main colony of the ancient
coelacanth fish (Latimeria menadoensis) in the waters off
Sulawesi and Ambon.
Aboard the one-year-old MV Baruna Jaya VIII, a ship carrying
fully computerized research and survey equipment and a navigation
system belonging to the National Institute of Sciences (LIPI), is
a team consisting of some 20 experts from LIPI, Germany's Max
Planck Institute and the local area.
The planned expedition was inaugurated on Thursday by LIPI
chairman Soefjan Tsauri on the deck of the vessel berthing at
Muara Baru harbor.
The leader of the expedition, Hans Fricke, a zoologist, said
the team would first sail to Manado and the surrounding area in
North Sulawesi where the coelacanth fish, which scientists often
refer to as a living fossil, was first identified some two years
ago by an American marine conservationist after it was caught by
a local fisherman.
The main target of the mission is to help protect and study
the life of one of the oldest species that still exists on Earth,
Fricke said.
"This expedition is focusing on its population. We will not
take the fish out of the water. We will only identify each fish
by its white spots -- just like taking fingerprints," he said
before the ceremony.
Fricke said the expedition would also take photos and make a
documentary about the fish, its behavior and habitat by using Max
Planck's submersible called Jago, which was named after the
world's smallest shark.
The submersible, he said, could go 400 meters below the
surface.
The 36-day project, which is expected to be completed by early
December, is estimated to cost Dm 250,000 (US$450,000), which
would be covered by donations and sponsors, particularly from
Germany, Fricke said.
Judging from the results of the last six similar expeditions
in African waters, he said, there were good indications that the
coelacanth might still be living in local waters for they could
only survive in rural areas.
'Raja Laut'
Mark Erdmann was the U.S. marine conservationist who first
discovered the rare fish sold at a local market in Manado in
1997. Erdmann, together with one of Indonesia's marine life
experts, Kasim Moosa, reported the discovery to scientists
worldwide in the environmental magazine Nature.
Before the finding, the coelacanth, also known locally as si
Raja Laut (king of the sea), was sold at Rp 30,000 (about $5) at
local markets. Shortly after Erdmann's discovery, the local
fishermen raised the price of the lobe-finned fish to some Rp 1
million each.
Moosa, who is also joining the expedition, said the fish was
not tasty and its oily meat could cause indigestion.
The fish oil was usually used by locals as a laxative.
The fish, whose fossils showed it lived during the Devonian
age some 400 million to 70 million years ago, was found in
African waters around Mozambique, Madagascar and Komoro islands
in 1938 and 1952.
The discovery of large amounts of the prehistoric fish at the
locals markets in Manado has raised the curiosity of scientists
around the world who want to find the exact place of its main
habitat in the waters off North Sulawesi.
The vessel to carry the marine expedition team will be piloted
by Captain Irham Danil.
Moosa said the Indonesian government would soon ask countries
signed with the Convention on International Trade of Endangered
Species (CITES) to name the fish Latimeria spp. instead of its
specific name Latimeria menadoensis, which is on Appendix I of
the convention's endangered species list.
The reason, he said, was that there was still a strong
possibility of more discoveries of the fish in other waters.
During Thursday's ceremony, the organizers also handed out
books about the coelacanth. Titled Seli, Si Raja Laut Kecil yang
Tersesat (Seli, the Little Sea King that Got Lost), the colorful
children's book aims to interest young readers in the ancient
fish. (01)