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Found in 1997 and explained as a brand-new types 2 years later on, the Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensisis among 2 living types of coelacanth, a deep-sea fish that carefully resembles its forefathers from the Cretaceous duration.
Deep scuba diver about a meter behind the Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensisfound at a depth of 144 m in North Maluku, Indonesia. Image credit: Alexis Chappuis.
Coelacanths are a group of big, sea-cave residence lobe-finned fish (sarcopterygians).
They were believed to be extinct for 65 million years, up until a very first living specimen was found luckily in South Africa in 1938 by a South African museum manager on a regional fishing trawler.
Coelacanths present a number of special and interesting functions such as unpaired lobbed-fins looking similar to paired fins and extremely customized lungs/swim bladder.
Together with lungfish, they are the closest family members to tetrapods and show them a number of morpho-anatomical functions that are not discovered in more distantly associated vertebrates such as ray-finned fishes.
Coelacanths initially appeared in the Early Devonian date, diversified a little in the Devonian and Carboniferous duration, and obtained an optimum of variety in the Early Triassic.
Throughout the Cretaceous duration, they are understood by 2 households just, the Latimeriidae, which made it through to today with 2 types in the genus Latimeriaand the Mawsoniidae, which went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous.
When the very first living specimen was found, it advised a lot fossil kinds from the Cretaceous that it was designated as a ‘living fossil,’ i.e. a types with a morphology that did not develop much over an extended period of time.
The 2 living types are the West Indian Ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnaeform the Comoros Islands off the east coast of Africa, and the Indonesian coelacanth from the waters off Sulawesi, Indonesia.
The latter types has actually been much less recorded than its African congener, and due to the problem of reaching the deep-reef environments it resides in, really couple of observations were made, and just from submersibles or Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs).
Left profile of the Indonesian coelacanth(Latimeria menadoensiswith its distinct pattern of white dots. Image credit: Alexis Chappuis.
“The Indonesian coelacanth is a rarely-documented, moderate deep-water lobe-finned fish( non-tetrapod sarcopterygian )at first believed to be endemic to the Sulawesi area of Indonesia and understood mainly from bycatch,” stated Alexis Chappuis, a scientist at the Association UNSEEN (Underwater Scientific Exploration for Education) the Centre for Collaborative Research on Aquatic Ecosystems in Eastern Indonesia, and associates.
“Very couple of direct in situ observations have actually been made from this types, and just utilizing submersibles and ROVs.”
“We report the very first direct in situ sightings by scuba divers of a live specimen of the Indonesian coelacanth in the waters of North Maluku, Indonesia, throughout current reconnaissance technical dives going beyond 150 m depth to examine presumed coelacanth environments.”
The scientists experienced Indonesian coelacanths in October 2024 throughout deep dives in the waters of the Maluku island chain, which lies in between Sulawesi and Western New Guinea.
“It is prematurely to talk about a brand-new Malukan coelacanth population,” they stated.
“Still, given that the Maluku island chain lies in between Sulawesi and Western New Guinea, it is not likely that just one private lives in this broad area.”
“Our current sightings, integrated with the work we have actually carried out on mesophotic coral environments of the Maluku island chain given that 2022, not just verify the existence of Latimeria Likewise, more commonly, the presence of ideal coelacanth environments.”
“Meanwhile, we hope this discovery will motivate regional and nationwide authorities to increase preservation efforts in this lively and biodiverse area, which is now verified to be hosting among the most evasive and emblematic marine types discovered in Indonesian waters.”
The group’s paper was released online April 23, 2025 in the journal Scientific Reports
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A. Chappuis et al2025. Record of a living coelacanth from North Maluku, Indonesia. Sci Rep 15, 14074; doi: 10.1038/ s41598-025-90287-7
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