240 



'Throughout the night — which the delighted population of Mut- 

 samudu passed in singing and dancing to celebrate the capture — the 

 Coelacanth was watched over with admirable care by the chef de 

 circonscription, taking turns with his adjoint, M. Solere. It seemed, 

 although quite bewildered at the sequel to its ascent to the surface, 

 to be taking the situation very well, swimming slowly by curious 

 rotating movements of its pectoral fins, while the second dorsal and 

 anal, likewise very mobile, served together with the tail as a rudder. 



'After daybreak it became apparent that the light, and above all the 

 sun itself, was upsetting the animal very much, so several tent canvases 

 were put over the boat to serve as some kind of protection. But despite 

 this precaution and the more or less constant renewal of the water, 

 the fish began to show more and more obvious signs of distress, seeking 

 to conceal itself in the darkest corners of the whaler. 



*At 14.45 hr- it was still swimming feebly; but at 15.30 hr. it had its 

 belly in the air and only the fins and gill-covers were making agonized 

 movements, 



*It was then covered with a sheet and taken immediately to the 

 hospital. There was not a scratch on it, apart from a tiny incision in 

 the centre of the anterior part of the floor of the mouth made by the 

 fisherman when recovering his hook. Altogether, it was in remarkably 

 good condition, without any rupture of the viscera or suffusions of 

 blood. 



*It measured 1*42 m. in length and weighed 41 kgm. 



'Chemical and histological investigations could be made under the 

 best possible conditions on perfectly fresh tissues. 



'Notified by telegraph of the capture and rushed from Tananarive 

 by a special aircraft, I arrived just in time to witness the last moments 

 of the fish. 



'Two principal conclusions emerge from the corroborated statements 

 made by local observers and by myself: (i) the extreme photophobia of 

 Latimeria — the sunlight seemed literally to hurt it; (2) the exceptional 

 mobility of the pedunculate fins, correlated with the wealth of muscula- 

 ture which is revealed by anatomical studies. The pectorals, in partic- 

 ular, can move in almost any direction and show themselves capable of 

 assuming practically every conceivable position. 



'There can be no doubt that death was brought about by decompres- 

 sion combined with rise in temperature. The previous water-samples 

 taken by Menache (1953) and by Millot and Cousteau (1954) in the 

 precise positions in which previous captures had been effected, showed 

 important temperature differences between the stratum frequented by 

 the Coelacanths and the surface water (26° C, more or less) during the 

 daytime off Moroni or Mutsamudu. 



