The South African Prime Minister, Dr D.F. Malan,
arranged for a South African Air Force plane to take
Professor Smith to the Comoro Islands to fetch the fish. A
third coelacanth was caught in the same area during September 1953, and it and the next about 30 specimens went to
France.
After the Comoro Islands gained independence, a large
female coelacanth was offered to Professor Smith who
asked that it be sent to America. Exchanged for $1 000
worth of medical drugs, it was eventually found by Ameri35: LATIMERIIDAE (COELACANTHS)
can scientists to contain five 32 cm long embryos, each with
its depleted yolk-sac.
Even when they were considered to have become extinct
about 70-80 million years ago, coelacanths were the longest
lived vertebrate group. Today Latimeria is still probably the
most sought after fish species; not only are scientists still
working on its comparative anatomy, but much remains to
be learned about the physiology, parasitology, biochemistry and behaviour of this fascinating fish.
35.1 Latimeria ehalumnae: top: 155 em male (Comoro Ids.); bottom: 32 cm unborn young with yolk sac attached to stomach.
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