The Indonesian coelacanth (''Latimeria menadoensis'', Indonesian: ''raja laut'') is one of two living species of
coelacanth
The coelacanths ( ) are fish belonging to the order Actinistia that includes two extant species in the genus ''Latimeria'': the West Indian Ocean coelacanth (''Latimeria chalumnae''), primarily found near the Comoro Islands off the east coast ...
, identifiable by its brown color. It is listed as
vulnerable by the
IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
,
while the other species, ''L. chalumnae'' (
West Indian Ocean coelacanth
The West Indian Ocean coelacanth (''Latimeria chalumnae'') (sometimes known as gombessa, African coelacanth, or simply coelacanth) is a crossopterygian, one of two extant species of coelacanth, a rare order of vertebrates more closely related to ...
) is listed as critically endangered.
Separate populations of the Indonesian coelacanth are found in the waters of north
Sulawesi
Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...
as well as
Papua and
West Papua.
Discovery
![Latimeria menadoensis 2000 Indonesia stamp](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Latimeria_menadoensis_2000_Indonesia_stamp.jpg)
On September 18, 1997, Arnaz and
Mark Erdmann, traveling in
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
on their
honeymoon
A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds immediately after their wedding, to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase ...
, saw a strange fish in a market at
Manado Tua
Manado Tua is a volcanic island in the Celebes Sea off the northeast coast of Sulawesi. The island is located on Bunaken National Park.
The name Manado comes from ''manadou'' or ''wanazou'' meaning "on the far coast" or "in the distance," which ...
, on the island of
Sulawesi
Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...
.
Mark Erdmann thought it was a ''gombessa'' (
Comoro coelacanth), although it was brown, not blue. Erdmann took only a few photographs of the fish before it was sold. After confirming that the discovery was unique, Erdmann returned to Sulawesi in November 1997, interviewing fishermen to look for further examples. In July 1998, a fisherman Om Lameh Sonatham caught a second Indonesian specimen, 1.2 m in length and weighing 29 kg on July 30, 1998, and handed the fish to Erdmann.
[Nelson, Joseph S. (2006). ''Fishes of the World''. ]John Wiley & Sons
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, in p ...
, Inc. The fish was barely alive, but it lived for six hours, allowing Erdmann to photographically document its coloration, fin movements and general behavior. The specimen was preserved and donated to the
Bogor Zoological Museum, part of the
Indonesian Institute of Sciences
The Indonesian Institute of Sciences ( id, Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia, or LIPI) was the governmental authority for science and research in Indonesia. It consists of 47 research centers in the fields ranging from social to natural scienc ...
.
Erdmann's discovery was announced in ''
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
'' in September 1998.
The fish collected by Erdmann 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
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
''Latimeria menadoensis'' (named after Manado where the specimen was found).
The description and its naming were published without the involvement or knowledge of Erdmann, who had been independently conducting research on the specimen at the time.
In response to Erdmann's complaints, Pouyaud and two other scientists asserted in a submission to
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
that they had been aware of the new species since 1995, predating the 1997 discovery. However the supplied photographic evidence of the purported earlier specimen, supposedly collected off southwest
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
, was recognised as a crude forgery by the editorial team and the claim was never published.
The fish is legally protected through the Minister of Forestry Regulation No. 7/1999. However, it continued to be caught by local fishermen; on November 5, 2014, a fisherman found a specimen in his net, the seventh Indonesian coelacanth found in Indonesian waters since 1998. Eight have been caught as of 2018.
Description
Superficially, the Indonesian coelacanth, known locally as ''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. It has the same white mottling pattern as the Comorian coelacanth, but with flecks over the dorsal surface of its body and fins that appear golden due to the reflection of light.
It may grow to 1.4 meters long.
DNA analysis has shown that the specimen obtained by Erdmann differed genetically from the Comorian population.
In 2005, a molecular study estimated the divergence time between the Indonesian and Comorian coelacanth species to be 30–40
mya. The two species show a 4.28% overall difference in their nucleotides.
An analysis of a specimen recovered from
Waigeo
Waigeo is an island in Southwest Papua province of eastern Indonesia. The island is also known as Amberi, or Waigiu. It is the largest of the four main islands in the Raja Ampat Islands
Raja Ampat, or the ''Four Kings'', is an archipelago loc ...
,
West Papua in eastern Indonesia indicates that there may be another lineage of the Indonesian coelacanth, and the two lineages may have diverged 13 million years ago. Whether this new lineage represents a subspecies or a new species has yet to be determined.
Habitat
Teams of researchers using
submersibles
A submersible is a small watercraft designed to operate underwater. The term "submersible" is often used to differentiate from other underwater vessels known as submarines, in that a submarine is a fully self-sufficient craft, capable of ind ...
have recorded live sightings of the fish in the waters of
Manado Tua
Manado Tua is a volcanic island in the Celebes Sea off the northeast coast of Sulawesi. The island is located on Bunaken National Park.
The name Manado comes from ''manadou'' or ''wanazou'' meaning "on the far coast" or "in the distance," which ...
and the Talise islands off north Sulawesi as well as in the waters of
Biak
Biak is an island located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua (province), Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak is the largest island in its small archipelago, and has many atolls, reefs, and c ...
in
Papua.
These areas share similar steep rocky topography full of caves, which are the habitat of the fish. These coelacanths live in deep waters of around 150 metres or more, at a temperature between 14 and 18 degrees Celsius.
See also
*
West Indian Ocean coelacanth
The West Indian Ocean coelacanth (''Latimeria chalumnae'') (sometimes known as gombessa, African coelacanth, or simply coelacanth) is a crossopterygian, one of two extant species of coelacanth, a rare order of vertebrates more closely related to ...
(''Latimeria chalumnae'')
References
External links
Indonesian coelacanth on YouTube*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:coelecanth, Indonesian
Indonesian coelacanth
The Indonesian coelacanth (''Latimeria menadoensis'', Indonesian: ''raja laut'') is one of two living species of coelacanth, identifiable by its brown color. It is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN, while the other species, ''L. chalumnae'' (Wes ...
Endemic fauna of Indonesia
Fish of Indonesia
Celebes Sea
Vulnerable fauna of Asia
Indonesian coelacanth
The Indonesian coelacanth (''Latimeria menadoensis'', Indonesian: ''raja laut'') is one of two living species of coelacanth, identifiable by its brown color. It is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN, while the other species, ''L. chalumnae'' (Wes ...