New breeding site for coelacanths found near Tanzania

Once thought to be extinct for millions of years, the "living fossil" coelacanth is more widespread than scientists believed, with a new breeding site being detected off the coast of northern Tanzania through DNA analyses of the deep-sea fish.

A report on this discovery, made by the staff at Tokyo Institute of Technology and other organizations, was included in the Oct. 24 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America journal.

Until the finding, coelacanths caught in waters near Africa have been believed to have drifted hundreds of kilometers over strong currents--which run from the Indian Ocean to Africa--from off the coast of the Comoros islands.   Read More