The Coelacanth, a dive into our origins (2013)
• November 2nd, 2013 • 1h 31min
Documentary
Overview
Gombessa Expedition 1 To dive for the Coelacanth is to go back in time. In 1938, when it was known only as a fossil, a Coelacanth was discovered in South Africa in a fisherman's net. This species bears witness to an evolutionary bifurcation 380 million years ago, and bears the marks of a great event: the day the fish left the ocean for the open air. Does it hold the secret to the transition to walking on land? In 2010, a marine biologist and outstanding diver, Laurent Ballesta, took the first photographs of the Coelacanth in its ecosystem. In April 2013, divers and researchers set down their equipment at the Sodwana base camp in South Africa, in the club founded by Peter Timm (who died in 2014). Six weeks of extreme diving at depths of over 120 meters, in an attempt to film the Coelacanth with a double-headed camera, collect its DNA and tag a subject with a satellite-linked beacon...
Make sure to check your pop-up blocker!!
Trailer
Similar Movies
Ocean with David Attenborough
Released on: 2025-05-08
Documentary
David Attenborough takes viewers on a breathtaking journey showing there is nowhere more vital for o...
Secrets of the Neanderthals
Released on: 2024-05-02
Documentary, Mystery, History
This documentary delves into the mysteries surrounding the Neanderthals and what their fossil record...
What Killed the Roman Empire?
Released on: 2022-11-19
Documentary, History, TV Movie
Why did the Roman Empire, which dominated Europe and the Mediterranean for five centuries, inexorabl...
Ocean Odyssey
Released on: 2006-05-24
Documentary, TV Movie, Drama
The largest predator on the planet, the sperm whale, is your host for an amazing exploration of the ...
Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony
Released on: 2002-09-21
Documentary
The struggle to eradicate apartheid in South Africa has been chronicled over time, but no one has ad...
Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet
Released on: 2021-06-03
Documentary
David Attenborough and scientist Johan Rockström examine Earth's biodiversity collapse and how this ...
Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life
Released on: 2009-02-01
Documentary, TV Movie
Darwin's great insight – that life has evolved over millions of years by natural selection – has bee...
The Cove
Released on: 2009-07-31
Documentary
The Cove tells the amazing true story of how an elite team of individuals, films makers and free div...
Equator - Reef of Riches
Released on: 2009-09-08
Documentary
The Indonesian archipelago in the Indo-Pacific Ocean comprises thousands of islands, atolls and the ...
Easter Island Origins
Released on: 2024-02-07
Documentary
How were the giant stone heads of Rapa Nui – also known as Easter Island – carved and raised, and wh...
Pompeii: Secrets of the Dead
Released on: 2019-11-24
Documentary
Forensic experts scan Pompeii’s victims to investigate why they didn’t escape the eruption.
Diving Deep: The Life and Times of Mike deGruy
Released on: 2020-01-10
Documentary
Diving Deep: The Life and Times of Mike deGruy, tells the story of Mike deGruy, an irrepressibly cur...
Into the Deep
Released on: 1994-11-02
Documentary
An underwater exploration beneath kelp forests in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern Califo...
Ocean Men, Extreme Dive
Released on: 2002-07-20
Documentary
For more than 10 years, world champion freedivers Pipin Ferreras and Umberto Pelizzari have been vyi...
King Tut: A Century of Secrets
Released on: 2022-10-19
Documentary
The world's leading Egyptologists are on a quest to uncover the secrets of Howard Carter's history-m...
Deep Blue
Released on: 2003-05-18
Documentary
Deep Blue is a major documentary feature film shot by the BBC Natural History Unit. An epic cinemati...