The famous Coelacanth, usually displayed in the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) in Grahamstown, has gone walk-a-bouts.
It recently made a trip to Johannesburg for the launch of the Johannesburg leg of the South East African Climate Consortium (SEACC).
The famous Coelacanth, usually displayed in the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) in Grahamstown, has gone walk-a-bouts.
It recently made a trip to Johannesburg for the launch of the Johannesburg leg of the South East African Climate Consortium (SEACC).
It was put on display at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange where some 120 members of the JSE and public visited the display.
The display was a success and received positive reactions and so for the next two days the Life Sciences Museum, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences at Wits University hosted the exhibit.
Caroline Crump, Senior Zoological Curator of the Life Sciences Museum, said attendance was “probably in the region of 2 000 people over the two days, which is remarkable considering the very short time there was for publicity.”
The Coelacanth has now made its way back to Grahamstown. Due to the fantastic response in Gauteng, the fish is now on exhibition in the Thomas Pringle Hall, at the 1820 Settlers Monument for the duration of Scifest.
The Coelacanth is an icon of evolutionary adaption and survival and a link to the prehistoric past. This particular specimen, also known as CCC-153, was collected in 1989 by local coelacanth expert Robin Stobbs with a team that included Prof Mike Bruton, then Director of the JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology.
It was brought back frozen by the team from the Comores. The latest coelacanth was sighted off Sodwana Bay last year.
