May 28, 2004
Coelacanth obituary
My daughter's bedtime reading this evening included an account of the rediscovery of the coelacanth; I promised her we'd look up more online in the morning, which is how I discovered that the Miss Latimer who first recognized the importance of the find had passed away only last week. A fine obituary at the Telegraph
For more coelacanth info and news, try the Dinofish website. Apparently a Japanese aquarium has been trying to acquire live specimens; this has aroused fears for the remaining population, but as yet the risks have chiefly been borne by the divers, two of whom recently died in the attempt.
A brief article on all the infighting among coelacanth researchers over the years is here.
Posted by David on May 28, 2004 9:08 PM
A thoughtful comparison at NOVA's Anatomy of the Coelacanth:
The small brain occupies only about 1.5 percent of the braincase in mature individuals. Its weight is negligible: in a 90-pound coelacanth, the brain weighs less than a tenth of an ounce. (Adult human brains typically weigh about three pounds.) No known living vertebrate has so miniscule a brain in relation to its body size. Yet such a rudimentary brain has clearly done nothing to hinder the species' long-term survival.
Perhaps an evolutionary strategy we have neglected...
Posted by: Peter Shriner on May 29, 2004 4:23 PM
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