Latimeria menadoensis

Indonesian coelacanth
Latimeria menadoensis, Tokyo Sea Life Park (Kasai Rinkai Suizokuen), Japan
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sarcopterygii
Subclass: Coelacanthimorpha
Order: Coelacanthiformes
Family: Latimeriidae
Genus: Latimeria
Species: L. menadoensis
Binomial name
Latimeria menadoensis
Pouyaud, Wirjoatmodjo, Rachmatika, Tjakrawidjaja, Hadiaty & Hadie, 1999

The Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis) (Indonesian: raja laut) is one of two living species of coelacanth, identifiable by its brown color.

Discovery

On September 18, 1997, Arnaz and Mark Erdmann, traveling in Indonesia on their honeymoon, saw a strange fish enter the market at Manado Tua, on the island of Sulawesi.[1] Mark thought it was a gombessa (Comoro coelacanth), although it was brown, not blue. An expert noticed their pictures on the Internet and realized its significance. Subsequently, the Erdmanns contacted local fishermen and asked for any future catches of the fish to be brought to them. A second Indonesian specimen, 1.2 m in length and weighing 29 kg., was captured alive on July 30, 1998.[2] It lived for six hours, allowing scientists to photographically document its coloration, fin movements and general behavior. The specimen was preserved and donated to the Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense (MZB), part of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).[1]

DNA testing revealed that this specimen differed genetically from the Comorian population.[3][4] Superficially, the Indonesian coelacanth, locally called raja laut ("King of the Sea"), appears to be the same as those found in the Comoros except that the background coloration of the skin is brownish-gray rather than bluish. This fish was described in a 1999 issue of Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des sciences Paris by Pouyaud et al. It was given the scientific name Latimeria menadoensis.[5] A recent molecular study estimated the divergence time between the two coelacanth species to be 40–30 mya.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b Jewett, Susan L., "On the Trail of the Coelacanth, a Living Fossil", The Washington Post, 1998-11-11, Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
  2. ^ Nelson, Joseph S. (2006). Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0471250317
  3. ^ Erdmann, Mark V. (April 1999). "An Account of the First Living Coelacanth known to Scientists from Indonesian Waters". Environmental Biology of Fishes (Springer Netherlands) 54 (#4): 439–443. doi:10.1023/A:1007584227315. 0378-1909 (Print) 1573-5133 (Online). http://www.springerlink.com/content/u5143r02v5u7133j/. Retrieved 2007-05-18. 
  4. ^ Holder, Mark T., Mark V. Erdmann, Thomas P. Wilcox, Roy L. Caldwell, and David M. Hillis (1999). "Two living species of coelacanths?". Proceedings of the National Academy of the United States of America 96 (22): 12616–12620. doi:10.1073/pnas.96.22.12616. 
  5. ^ Pouyaud, L., S. Wirjoatmodjo, I. Rachmatika, A. Tjakrawidjaja, R. Hadiaty, and W. Hadie (1999). "Une nouvelle espèce de coelacanthe: preuves génétiques et morphologiques". Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des sciences Paris, Sciences de la vie / Life Sciences 322 (4): 261–267. doi:10.1016/S0764-4469(99)80061-4. 
  6. ^ Inoue J. G., M. Miya, B. Venkatesh, and M. Nishida (2005). "The mitochondrial genome of Indonesian coelacanth Latimeria menadoensis (Sarcopterygii: Coelacanthiformes) and divergence time estimation between the two coelacanths". Gene 349: 227–235. doi:10.1016/j.gene.2005.01.008. PMID 15777665.