Abstract
THE discovery of a living Coelacanthid fish, Latim-eria chalumnœ, in South African waters, off East London, at the end of 1938, is an event still in the forefront of the minds of biologists (see Nature, 143, 455 and 748 ; 1939). The published account of the mounted animal is as exhaustive as the material permitted, but all zoologists desire information about the soft parts of the creature, which in this case were lost before they could be examined. The outbreak of war in 1939 put a stop to preparations for expeditions to seek further specimens of this remarkable fish. Now that the War is ended, general interest in this project has been shown in various countries, and in South Africa in particular. The South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has appointed a committee to consider how best to organise a marine expedition on a considerable scale. This expedition would aim not only at securing more cœlacanths, but would also explore and accumulate data in various fields of science in the relatively poorly known region of the Mozambique Channel. The committee is under the chairmanship of Dr. S. H. Haughton, director of the South African Geological Survey, and a member of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The honorary secretary of the committee is Prof. J. L. B. Smith, of Rhodes University College, Grahamstown, and the committee requests that all societies, institutions and private persons interested in the project should communicate with him.
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South African Marine Expedition. Nature 159, 770 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/159770c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/159770c0