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this wonder fish, though the head and skin were almost intact. These 

 important remains enabled me to ascertain a tremendous amount of 

 information about Coelacanths, and, in fact, I have written virtually a 

 book about that. Can you imagine a more tantalising situation? Here 

 had been found this wonderful, almost incredible, relic of a past so 

 remote as to be almost beyond the grasp of the ordinary mind. It was 

 almost exactly like its early ancestors, and we were by such unfortunate 

 circumstances prevented from being able to find out what most of its 

 body and organs were like. It therefore became more than normally 

 desirable, really imperative, to find more — even one would do. I 

 naturally gave more thought to this matter than any other living man — 

 not only that but I have probably a more informed and intimate know- 

 ledge of the coast and seas of South and East Africa than anyone else. 

 With my wife, I have tramped many hundreds of miles of that coast, 

 possibly thousands, on foot — parts of it many times. The first thing 

 that struck me was that this East London Coelacanth was most likely a 

 stray. I know fish and can tell with reasonable certainty from the 

 appearance and shape of a fish both its habits and a good deal about 

 where it is likely to live. 



That Coelacanth looked to me like a fish that moved quietly about 

 reefs — the kind of fish that would catch its food by stealth and cunning. 

 Its body shape shows clearly that it is not speedy. Its heavy scales 

 would be perfect protection from casual bumps on rocks or coral, and 

 its very powerful jaw muscles and the nature of its quite formidable 

 teeth told me clearly that it was a pouncer which, with larger prey, 

 would grab and hold on grimly until that prey was exhausted and 

 overcome. It was probably rare at any time, but looked the type of 

 fish that would easily take a baited hook. As it had apparently never 

 been seen before, it was not likely to live anywhere where many people 

 fished or where it could easily be caught on a line. This to me said 

 clearly, moderately deep water with rough rocky bottom washed by a 

 strong current and probably rough or dangerous seas. For with such 

 conditions, bottom-line fishing is almost impossible. No Coelacanth 

 had ever been caught before in any trawl-net, and the East London area 

 has been swept by trawlers very thoroughly for very many years. The type 

 of habitat I have outlined would also be consistent with its not being 

 caught normally by trawlers, for they could never operate with such a 

 bottom. 



One European scientist who had not seen the fish, attempted to 

 explain the mystery of the sudden appearance of the Coelacanth by 

 saying that of course it lived in the great depths and that this one had 

 come up casually. I did not share his views. No fish from the depths 

 ever bore so powerful an external armour of bones and scales as the 



