Search For Fish Of Species More Than 50,000,000 Years Old

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27277, 31 December 1949, Page 5

Search For Fish Of Species More Than 50,000,000 Years Old

NZPA Special Correspondent Rec. 9 p.m. LONDON, Dec. 30. When the research ship William Scoresby returns to England from West Australian waters where her crew is to mark whales for plotting the course of seasonal migration, the opportunity will be taken en route to trawl in African waters for fish of a species that may be more than 50,000,000 years old. It has been thought that the species existed only in fossil form b.ut in 1938 a trawler picked up a live specimen off East London (Cape Province) in about 80 fathoms. The soft parts of the fish and its bones were accidentally destroyed, however, and only the skin remains. It has been stuffed and is in the East London Museum

Mr R. Currie, of Paisley (Scotland), aged 21, the youngest of three scientists on the staff of the National Institute of Oceanography who are to make the voyage said: “ The chances of finding the fish are remote. We shall trawl for it and we also have a special fish trap designed by our director. The specimen at East London is about five feet long but nobody knows whether it is fully grown or not. It is called the Latimeria.”

The ship will sail from England to Dakar (West Africa) and then to Cape Town surveying currents off the west coast. She will sail on to Australia for whale-marking and if there is time, will return via Colombo and trawl for specimens, before returning home through the Suez Canal.