Sir
The coelacanth population recently discovered in the Sulawesi Sea, north of Sulawesi, Indonesia1,2, may very well be related to those found earlier near the Comoran Islands in the western Indian Ocean. The ocean circulation map shown2 is in error: there is indeed an oceanographic connection between Sulawesi and the Comoran Islands region.
Oceanographic studies3,5 show that there is a direct flow of surface and thermocline (upper 400 m) water from the Mindanao Current of the North Pacific into the Sulawesi Sea. After traversing Makassar Strait this flow, called the Indonesian throughflow, enters the Flores and Banda Seas before spreading into the Timor Sea and Indian Ocean. Once in the Indian Ocean the Indonesian water spreads westward as a low salinity feature embedded within the South Equatorial Current along 12° S, eventually reaching the vicinity of the Comoran Islands. I suggest that coelacanth populations may exist along the route of this flow.
References
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Gordon, A. Coelacanth populations may go with the flow. Nature 395, 634 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/27063
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/27063
