They do however obtain specimens on hand, and film a native caught coelacanth dying in a hastily established tank. The Vancouver Aquarium makes an unsuccessful bid to capture a live coelacanth. Team members return with a purchased specimen. They are unsuccessful, but an important monograph on the coelacanth is published by the California Academy of Sciences as a result of the project. They purchase study specimens and establish economic links between the Comoros and Japan.
Several papers result.
Visits continue sporadically through the 80's, and into the '90's. Belgian Zoological Expeditions visit the Comoros and prepare a report on the coelacanth. Several frozen specimens are acquired which form the basis of a new round of coelacanth research in North America, including CAT scans and DNA analysis. The project continues, capturing the natural behavior of healthy coelacanths on film for the first time. The first of several research visits is made by groups from the JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology in Grahamstown, South Africa.