page_title: Coelacanth
section_title: Conservation
hierarchical_section_title: Coelacanth / Conservation
caption_attribution_description: English: West Indian Ocean Coelacanth Fish (Latimeria chalumnae) at Abdallah Al Salem Cultural Center in Salmiyah, State of Kuwait
context_page_description: The coelacanths constitute a now-rare order of fish that includes two extant species in the genus Latimeria: the West Indian Ocean coelacanth primarily found near the Comoro Islands off the east coast of Africa and the Indonesian coelacanth. They follow the oldest-known living lineage of Sarcopterygii, which means they are more closely related to lungfish and tetrapods than to ray-finned fish. They are found along the coastline of Indonesia and in the Indian Ocean. The West Indian Ocean coelacanth is a critically endangered species.
  Coelacanths belong to the subclass Actinistia, a group of lobed-finned fish related to lungfish and certain extinct Devonian fish such as osteolepiforms, porolepiforms, rhizodonts, and Panderichthys. Coelacanths were thought to have become extinct in the Late Cretaceous, around 66 million years ago, but were rediscovered in 1938 off the coast of South Africa.
  The coelacanth was long considered a "living fossil" because scientists thought it was the sole remaining member of a taxon otherwise known only from fossils, with no close relations alive, and that it evolved into roughly its current form approximately 400 million years ago.
context_section_description: Because little is known about the coelacanth, the conservation status is difficult to characterize. According to Fricke et al. (1995), there should be some stress put on the importance of conserving this species. From 1988 to 1994, Fricke counted some 60 individuals of L. chalumnae on each dive. In 1995 that number dropped to 40. Even though this could be a result of natural population fluctuation, it also could be a result of overfishing. The IUCN currently classifies L. chalumnae as Critically Endangered, with a total population size of 500 or fewer individuals. L. menadoensis is considered Vulnerable, with a significantly larger population size (fewer than 10,000 individuals).
  Currently, the major threat towards the coelacanth is the accidental capture by fishing operations, especially commercial deep-sea trawling. Coelacanths usually are caught when local fishermen are fishing for oilfish. Fishermen sometimes snag a coelacanth instead of an oilfish because they traditionally fish at night, when oilfish (and coelacanths) feed.
  Before scientists became interested in coelacanths, they were thrown back into the water if caught. Now that there is an interest in them, fishermen trade them in to scientists or other officials once they have been caught. Before the 1980s, this was a problem for coelacanth populations. In the 1980s, international aid gave fiberglass boats to the local fishermen, which resulted in fishing beyond the coelacanth territories into more fish-productive waters. Since then, most of the motors on the boats have broken down so the local fishermen are now back in the coelacanth territory, putting the species at risk again.
  Different methods to minimize the number of coelacanths caught include moving fishers away from the shore, using different laxatives and malarial salves to reduce the quantity of oilfish needed, using coelacanth models to simulate live specimens, and increasing awareness of the need to protect the species. In 1987 the Coelacanth Conservation Council advocated the conservation of coelacanths. The CCC has many branches of its agency located in Comoros, South Africa, Canada, the United Kingdom, the U.S., Japan and Germany. The agencies were established to help protect and encourage population growth of coelacanths.
  A "Deep Release Kit" was developed in 2014 and distributed by private initiative, consisting of a weighted hook assembly that allows a fisherman to return an accidentally caught coelacanth to deep waters where the hook can be detached once it hits the sea floor. Conclusive reports about the effectiveness of this method are still pending.
  In 2002, the South African Coelacanth Conservation and Genome Resource Programme was launched to help further the studies and conservation of the coelacanth. This program focuses on biodiversity conservation, evolutionary biology, capacity building, and public understanding. The South African government committed to spending R10 million on the program.
  In 2011, a plan for a Tanga Coelacanth Marine Park was designed to conserve marine biodiversity for marine animals including the coelacanth. The park was designed to reduce habitat destruction and improve prey availability for endangered species.
caption: Coelacanth at Abdallah Al Salem Cultural Center in Kuwait
exif: {"Image Tag 0x000B": "Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Software": "Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384", "Image DateTime": "2019:07:11 16:05:27", "Image ExifOffset": "2242", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4516", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10613", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2019:07:11 15:59:23", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2019:07:11 15:59:23", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "46", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "46", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}