Japanese researchers have discovered a hitherto unknown population of coelacanths, a fish species known as a living fossil, off southeast Africa, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun.
Researchers from Tokyo Institute of Technology reported that the newly found breeding group of coelacanths linked to the site has existed for more than 200,000 years without genetic contact with other groups.
Coelacanth (Gerard Lacz/Animals Animals—Earth Scenes)
Researchers had believed there was only one breeding group of the species off Africa.
Coelacanths have been found only in the sea off Africa and Indonesia. In Africa, an area in the sea around the Comoros Islands near Madagascar is home to the only previously known population of the fish.
Prof. Norihiro Okada and his colleagues from Tokyo Institute of Technology analyzed genes of more than 20 coelacanths caught off Tanga, northern Tanzania, and nearby sites. The areas are nearly 1,000 kilometers north-northwest of the Comoros Islands.
The results showed the fish belong to a population genetically distinct from that off Comoros Islands.
The two groups seem to have separated 200,000 to 2 million years ago, the researchers said.
Considering the number of fish caught, the researchers assume the newly discovered population may comprise hundreds of coelacanths near the site.
