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| "The
Search for the Indonesian Coelacanth" Dr Kassim Moosa Saturday, 4th October 2003: 2.30 - 4.00pm Lecture Theatre 31 (Science Auditorium) Visitors may park at Carpark 10 Host: A/P Peter Ng
The discovery of the second species thousands of miles to the east in Indonesia was just as unexpected and news-worthy. In 1997, biologist Mark Erdmann and his wife “bumped” into the fish at a fishmarket in Manado, Sulawesi. Consultations with his mentors, Roy Caldwell and Kasim Moosa, confirmed that he had made history. After a long search (including a bounty being placed on the fish!), a live Indonesian coelacanth was eventually caught a year later; and the three men announced their discovery to the world in the prestigious journal NATURE to a lot of fanfare. The story then took a strange twist. A French researcher, without authorisation, obtained the animal’s DNA and quickly named the species Latimeria menadoensis. This caused a furore (such behaviour is regarded as scandalous) and the fish became even more famous! Nevertheless, Kasim Moosa and Mark Erdmann have since then actively campaigned for the fish’s protection and conservation; and using the Indonesian Research Vessel “Baruna Jaya VIII” and German deep-water submersible “Jago”, they managed to locate the living fossil in its natural habitat in North Sulawesi, finding two living specimens in the cave 145m deep. Latimeria is a strange fish. It is very sluggish and shelters in submarine cave during the day coming out to forage only at night. The largest number ever recorded in one cave is 14 fish. It preys on mostly demersal fishes as well as squid and octopuses. Females are usually larger than males, the largest ever caught was a 1.8 m female weighing 80 kg. Latimeria is believed to be ovoviviparous, with the eggs (the size of an orange) hatching in the womb and the female “giving birth” to live fish. So much for an ancient fish! In this talk, which will include video footage of the search for the fish’s natural habitat in Indonesia, Kasim Moosa will share his experiences of the fish with the audience; including its momentous find, the challenges to conserve it; as well as the scientific scandals associated with the fish and its discoveries. About the speaker The main focus of Dr. Moosa's research is the taxonomy of decapods (crabs) and stomatopods (mantis shrimps) and has published about 75 scientific papers mostly focused on the crustaceans. Dr. Moosa taught biological sciences from 1963 to 1994. His last held the position as Dean of Faculty of Biology, National University, Jakarta. Dr. Moosa also guides students for their thesis of strata I, II and is an external examiner for strata III. Besides education Dr. Moosa had his early taxonomical study in Singapore, where he was awarded a Colombo Plan Fellowship for 7 months and spent his time at the National Museum of Singapore under the supervision of Mr. Eric Alfred and Dr. Raoul Serène. The latter then became his friend and spiritual father. He attended training in “The Implementation of Crustacean Taxonomy for Fishery” in Australia for four weeks in 1981, as a visiting scientist to several international institutions. His interest on the living fossil fish started when Dr. Mark Erdmann, whom Dr. Moosa mentored for his Ph.D., brought to him a photo of a coelacanth in 1997. Dr. Moosa, together with Prof. Roy Caldwell, published the spectacular finding in the Nature Magazine (Nature, vol. 395 edition 24 September 1998). Efforts had been taken to protect the fish from being exploited and Dr. Moosa, with Japanese college and Dr. Erdmann, jointly organised campaigns in North Sulawesi through discussions, visits, posters, billboards, drawing contests, etc. They were very successful in raising awareness for the coelacanth. Drs. Moosa and Erdmann participated in an underwater observation using the Indonesian Research Vessel “Baruna Jaya VIII” and Germany submersible “Jago” to locate the living fossil fish in its habitat in North Sulawesi waters and had successfully found two living specimens in the deep water cave at about 145 meter.
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Locations of venues, Dept. Biological Sciences, NUS Please
refer to this map Seminar Room 3
(SR3) Life Sciences Lab
7A-D Lecture Theatre 32 Raffles Museum To be kept appraised of the meetings of the Biodiversity Journal Club, please subscribe to the Ecotax Mailing List For updates on Natural History news in Singapore, see Habitatnews Meetings of the Biodiversity & Ecology Journal Club, 2003 Public Talk Wasim Ahmad - "Feeding Diversity in Nematodes ". 4th September 2003 Eco@Woodlands |
Very
few animals have captured the public attention as the coelacanth has.
Its archaic appearance, 360 million vintage and Methuselah nature (scientists
call it a living fossil), as well as its purported links to all four-legged
land animals; gives it an almost mythical quality. The first living
coelacanth was found unexpectedly by a young South African zoologist
in 1938; the search for the main population by renowned ichthyologist
J. L. B. Smith was an epic 10 year odyssey that was the stuff of action
movies. Named Latimeria chalumnae after the discover (Ms Latimer)
and the place it was first found (Chalumna River), this was as close
to a dinosaur as biologists could get. 
Dr.
Mohammad Kasim Moosa was born in Jakarta, 25th February 1937. Married
to a Singaporean in 1971, they have four female children, three of them
were born in Singapore. Dr. Moosa graduated with a Bachelor of Science
in Biology from Faculty of Biology, National University, Jakarta in
1963. He also was a graduate from Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes,
Sorbonne, Paris (1979) and received his Doctorate from the Faculty of
Science, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6) in 1983.
He worked as research staff of the now Indonesian Institute of Science,
Centre for Oceanography Research from 1963 and was officially retired
in 2002. He became a government official and then was reappointed as
research staff of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences at January 2003.
