Coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae aggregates in caves: first observations on their resting habitat and social behavior

Abstract

We report first observations on social behavior of Latimeria chalumnae in its natural environment at around 200 m depth in the Comoro Archipelago, Western Indian Ocean. Coelacanths aggregate in small nonaggressive groups in sheltered lava-caves. They live in open site-attached social systems with individuals occupying large overlapping home ranges of more than 8 km coastline, some for a period of at least 2 years. © 1991 Kluwer Academic Publishers.