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)