Re: Coelacanths and dodos

[Paula Goodman <paulawilder@mac.com>]

There was definitely a live Coelacanth in the Steinhardt aquarium in 
San Francisco in the early 90's  at least. It was a wonderful exhibit 
on evolution.

On Jul 16, 2007, at 12:21 PM, Donna Braginetz wrote:

> LISTERS --
>
> Undoubtedly due to an extra-lively imagination, I have a vivid memory 
> of
> seeing a coelacanth in an aquarium in California (San Francisco?) when 
> I
> was a little kid, so we're talking mid to late 1950s. There was no such
> thing, right? Have living coelacanths ever been been on display to the 
> public?
>
> I also have a strong memory of seeing a "stuffed" dodo on display in, I
> think, a lighthouse (it may have been a gift shop built to look like a
> lighthouse). This was probably during the same trip to the San 
> Francisco
> area. Does anyone recall such a thing? (Maybe I misidentified some
> common large seabird with a thick bill.)
>
> -- DONNA BRAGINETZ
>
>
>
>
> Allan Edels wrote:
> > > From Wikipedia (and it matches books and papers I've seen, up until 
> > > about 2
> > years ago).  Note that it already included the latest discovery:
> >
> > Timeline of discoveries:
> > -------------------------------
> > Date  - Description:
> > =========================================================
> > 1938 - (December 23) Discovery of the first modern coelacanth 30 km 
> > SW of
> > East London, South Africa.
> > 1952 - (December 21) Second specimen identified in the Comoros. Since 
> > then
> > more than 200 have been caught around the islands.
> > 1988 - First photographs of coelacanths in their natural habitat, by 
> > Hans
> > Fricke off Grand Comore.
> > 1991 - First coelacanth identified near Mozambique, 24 km offshore NE 
> > of
> > Quelimane.
> > 1995 - First recorded coelacanth on Madagascar, 30 km S of Tuléar.
> > 1997 (September 18) - New species of coelacanth found in Indonesia.
> > 2000 - A group found by divers off Sodwana Bay, South Africa.
> > 2001 - A group found off the coast of Kenya.
> > 2003 - First coelacanth caught by fisherman in Tanzania. Within the 
> > year, 22
> > were caught in total.
> > 2004 - Canadian researcher William Sommers captured the largest 
> > recorded
> > specimen of coelacanth off the coast of Madagascar.
> > 2007 (May 19) - Indonesian fisherman Justinus Lahama caught a 4 feet
> > long,112 pound coelacanth off Sulawesi Island near Bunaken National 
> > Marine
> > Park that survived for 17 hours in a quarantined pool.
> > 2007 (July 15) - Two fishermen from Zanzibar caught a 60lbs. and 1.34 
> > meter
> > long Coelacanth. The fish was caught off the North tip of Zanzibar
> > ===========================================================
> >
> > Estimated total population (circa 1998) - 500.  (On international 
> > endangered
> > species list).