
It seemed obvious that a scientific expedition should be organized in order to study the fish underwater and gain knowledge on it. Geneticists, paleontologists and biologists from the French National Museum of Natural History linked to the CNRS, the French National Centre for Scientific Research, the South African National Biodiversity Institute, and the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity were brought together by Laurent Ballesta for this mission achieved in 2013. To reach this living legend, Laurent Ballesta and his team of divers had to perform daily deep water dives to the Jesser Canyon caves, 120 metres below the surface: a depth where each minute passed underwater is paid for in long hours of decompression.
The Gombessa I expedition, the result of two years of scientific, logistical and human preparation, enabled for the first time observations and scientific experiments to be carried out in contact with a living coelacanth.