Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Discovery Coelacanth - Puget Sound

Stunning eco news this week from the MBSLS Blog of an actual Coelacanth discovered in Puget Sound:

Approximately 12 minutes into his swim, Powell spotted a meter long shape emerge from the Puget Sound murk. "At first I thought it was a cusk or perhaps a salmon," said Powell, "It might have even been a hake or cod. But imagine my shock to discover it was a coelacanth!"

Quick thinking and MacGyver-like ingenuity on Powell's part allowed him to quickly affix his underwater camera to a channel buoy using a piece of kelp. Herding the coelacanth into the frame, he managed to snap a picture (above) and secure conclusive evidence of his discovery.

"We swam together for at least five minutes," Powell is quoted saying in The Seattle Times, "It was one of the most transcendent moments of my life swimming alongside the bluish-gray fish. At one point, the coelacanth lifted one of it's paddle-like pectoral fin towards me and I instinctively reached out to it as well."

Complete Story

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