This week, the Royal Society of South Africa (RSSAf) held an online talk about coelacanths, the ancient fish that still live in the ocean.
This fascinating creature has been the subject of myth ever since it came to the science world’s attention in 1939. Named after the finder of this first animal, and the river at the mouth of which it was caught, Latimeria chalumnae is the Southern African species while another, Latimeria menadoensis, lives off Indonesia.
There is plenty written about coelacanths. The fish spawned movies, Creature from the Black Lagoon followed by The Shape of Water, and books. The idea of a prehistoric creature living silently and unnoticed for centuries has caught the world’s imagination, and inspired many to careers in marine biology, evolutionary studies and the like.
The RSSAf talk was given by Bruce Henderson who has dived to search for coelacanths off the coast of South Africa for decades. It was a riveting talk, complete with videos and photographs of encounters with the living animals, and you can see the videos for yourself here.
Artists too have been inspired by coelacanths. The South African artist, Walter Oltmann, painted the picture you can see at the top of this article. Measuring almost three metres from end to end, the acrylic on canvas piece is life-size and the colours are accurate for the Southern species. The piece, as regular readers will know, is in the art collection.
The same artist worked with a women’s cooperative in South Africa to create another image of the fish (left). Worked in white cotton on a canvas background, the piece is almost life-size, and, being shades of white, the coelacanth is just visible as shadows and light relief. This piece is in the textile collection at the studio.
The final RSSAf talk of the year is on the 15th November and will be with Prof Sarah Wurz from the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. The subject looks fascinating: Archaeoacoustics and the evolution of music: a vital link between the past and present and sign-ups will be available on this page soon.
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