Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis)
Celacanto indonesio (Latimeria menadoensis)
- Date
- 1997-1998 · confidence high
- Place
- Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
- Credited to
- Mark Erdmann and Arnaz Mehta Erdmann; description by Pouyaud and colleagues
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Biologist Mark Erdmann saw a coelacanth in a Manado market in 1997 and a specimen caught in 1998 confirmed a second population, 10,000 km from the Comoros one. It was described as a distinct species in 1999.
Local fishermen knew the fish as 'raja laut'; Erdmann discovered it for science, not for them.
What it led to
- a second living species of the genus Latimeria
- genetic studies of their divergence (some 30-40 Ma ago)
- marine protected areas for the coelacanth