A group of South African deep sea divers have discovered a large colony of one of the world's rarest fish, the Coelacanth, off the Kwazulu Natal coast. The South African government has moved quickly to declare emergency regulations to ensure the protection of the colony which fortunately were located within the St Lucia World Heritage Site marine reserve.

The sighting of the Coealocanth, believed to have an evolutionary history stretching back 360 million years, proves that the species has yet not gone into extinction. Sightings have been rare, with one caught off South Africa's East London coast in 1938 and another discovered near the Comores Islands in 1952.

Diver Pieter Venter said the first sighting occurred on October 28 2000 during a pleasure dive 104 metres below sea level. He said he noticed "this eye reflecting towards me and that made me curious. I approached it and underneath an overhang I saw a fish about two metres long". He said he realized within seconds that the unusual fish, light blue in colour with distinctive fins, was the Coelacanth. "It was like seeing a UFO without taking a photograph" he said.

Venter then put together the SA Coelacanth Expedition 2000 to find the fish again and film it. On Sunday, November 26th 2000, he and fellow divers Gilbert Gunn, cameramen Christo Serfontein and Dennis Harding returned to the marine reserve. They went down to a depth of 105 metres and searched an underwater rockface, moving from cavern to cavern.

Within 12 minutes they found three of the rare fish and took photos. The largest Coelacanth was between 1,5 m and 1,8 m long, while the others were approximately a metre in length. Their jubilation at the find was tempered by tragedy. Harding lost his life just hours later due to cerebral embolism during his ascent from the sea floor.

The South African government has congratulated the team and offered its condolences to the Harding family. Environment and tourism minister Mohammed Valli Moosa says legislation will be drafted to protect the Coelocanth colony and that the discovery justified even further the recent declaration of the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park as a Unesco World Heritage Site.

For more details on the Coelocanth check out www.dinofish.com