The Coelacanth, a dive into our origins

The story

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...

Cast & crew

Laurent BallestaSelf - Plongeur, photographe, biologiste marin

Gaël Clément

Gaël ClémentSelf - Paléontologue au Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Paris

Peter TimmSelf - Plongeur, fondateur du Trimix, Afrique du Sud

Emmanuel Blanche

Emmanuel BlancheSelf - Médecin hyperbare de l'expédition " Gombessa 1 "

Florian Holon

Florian HolonSelf - Plongeur de l'expédition " Gombessa 1 "

Thibault RaubySelf - Biologiste, plongeur de l'expédition " Gombessa 1 "

Yanick GentilSelf - Cameraman sous-marin, plongeur de l'expédition " Gombessa 1 "

Marc Herbin

Marc HerbinSelf - Spécialiste de la locomotion des vertebrés, CNRS / MNHN

Kerry Sink

Kerry SinkSelf - Chercheur au The South African Institute Aquatic Biodiversity

Cédric GentilSelf - Logisticien de l'expédition " Gombessa 1 "

Mélanie Faye

Mélanie FayeNarrator (voice)