South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity

In 1938 a trawler fishing the waters off South Africa’s eastern coast caught a coelacanth, a fish thought to have become extinct 65 million years ago. If not for the living fossil, it is doubtful whether Grahamstown would be the home of Africa’s foremost institute of ichthyology, the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB). Today, the institute is the continent’s undisputed leader in fish taxonomy; its collection of fish specimens attracts researchers from around the world.

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