Colacanth, an especially uncommon species of fish, as soon as regarded as extinct with dinosaurs tens of millions of years in the past, has been discovered alive within the Indian Ocean.
A report by Mongabay, a US-based nonprofit conservation and environmental science information platform, said that deep-sea fish hunters have been chargeable for the presence of coelacanths for many years. In truth, the primary surviving coelacanth was caught in 1938, when a gaggle of fishermen arrange gill nets in deep waters off the southwest coast of Madagascar.
The rising demand for shark fins and oil has prompted hunters to go fishing in deep waters, resulting in the invention of uncommon species on the coasts of South Africa, Tanzania and the Comoros Islands. This species lives in depths of 100 to 500 meters within the underwater valleys.
Latimeria Chalumne, As it’s scientifically known as, terrestrial four-legged animals are thought-about to be one of many early phases of fish improvement. Its origins will be traced to 420 million years in the past.
A brand new research within the South African Journal of Science seems on the catalog of collacanth captures over the previous a long time. It notes that as of May 2020, 334 collacanth captures have been documented in Madagascar in March 2019.
The species is now listed as critically endangered and researchers fear about fishing with giant gill nets or ‘Zarifa‘, As they’re regionally known as, might threaten the survival of coelacanths.
They additional notice that since thinner strands of gillnets can’t set off the sense organs (electro-reception) of the species, which is in any other case poor imaginative and prescient, Zarifas Create an extra menace.
Existing populations of uncommon species change insights into how the western Indian Ocean’s ecology is considered by researchers, nevertheless, the rising incidence of unintended seize is a trigger for concern. Experts have highlighted the necessity to look into sustainable conservation strategies for the species, particularly within the Madagascar area.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
