CHIMAERA

'Chimaeras' are cartilaginous fish in the order 'Chimaeriformes'. They are related to the sharks and rays, and are sometimes called 'ghost sharks', 'ratfish' (not to be confused with the "rattails"), or 'rabbitfishes'.
Chimaeras live in temperate ocean floors and grow up to two meters long. Like other members of the class Chondrichthyes, chimaeras have a skeleton constructed of cartilage. Their skin is smooth and lacks scales, and their color can range from black to brownish gray.
For defense, most chimaeras have a venomous spine located in front of the dorsal fin.
Chimaeras resemble sharks in some ways: they employ claspers for internal fertilization of females and they lay eggs with leathery cases. They differ from sharks in that their upper jaws are fused with their skulls; they have separate anal and urogenital openings; and they lack the many sharp and replaceable teeth of sharks, having instead a few large permanent grinding tooth plates.

Contents

Gallery

Classification

References

Gallery

Classification

In some classifications the chimaeras are included (as subclass Holocephali) in the class Chondrichthyes of cartilaginous fishes; in other systems this distinction may be raised to the level of class. Chimaeras also have some characteristics of bony fishes.
There are about forty species in six genera and three families:

Family Callorhinchidae

★ Genus ''Callorhinchus''

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★ Elephant fish, ''Callorhinchus callorynchus'' (Linnaeus, 1758)

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★ Cape elephantfish, ''Callorhinchus capensis'' (Duméril, 1865)

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★ Australian ghost shark, ''Callorhinchus milii'' Bory de Saint-Vincent, 1823

★ Genus ''Edaphodon''

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★ ''Edaphodon agassizi'' Buckland, 1835

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★ ''Edaphodon antwerpiensis'' Leriche, 1926

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★ ''Edaphodon bucklandi'' Agassiz, 1843

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★ ''Edaphodon eyrensis Long, 1985

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★ ''Edaphodon kawai'' Consoli, 2006

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★ ''Edaphodon laqueatus'' Leidy, 1873

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★ ''Edaphodon leptognathus'' - (''has not been formally classified'') Agassiz

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★ ''Edaphodon minor''

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★ ''Edaphodon mirabilis'' - (''has not been formally classified'')

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★ ''Edaphodon mirificus'' Leidy, 1856

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★ ''Edaphodon sedgwicki''

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★ ''Edaphodon smocki'' Cope

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★ ''Edaphodon stenobryus'' Cope

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★ ''Edaphodon tripartitus'' Cope

Family Chimaeridae

★ Genus ''Chimaera''

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★ ''Chimaera cubana'' Howell Rivero, 1936

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★ ''Chimaera jordani'' Tanaka, 1905

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★ Carpenter's chimaera, ''Chimaera lignaria'' Didier, 2002

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★ ''Chimaera monstrosa'' Linnaeus, 1758

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★ ''Chimaera owstoni'' Tanaka, 1905

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★ ''Chimaera panthera'' Didier, 1998

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★ Silver chimaera, ''Chimaera phantasma'' Jordan & Snyder, 1900


★ Genus ''Hydrolagus''

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★ Smalleyed rabbitfish, ''Hydrolagus affinis'' (de Brito Capello, 1868)

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★ African chimaera, ''Hydrolagus africanus'' (Gilchrist, 1922)

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★ ''Hydrolagus alberti'' Bigelow & Schroeder, 1951

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★ ''Hydrolagus alphus'' Quaranta et al., 2006.^[1]

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★ ''Hydrolagus barbouri'' (Garman, 1908)

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★ Pale ghost shark, ''Hydrolagus bemisi'' Didier, 2002

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★ Spotted ratfish, ''Hydrolagus colliei'' (Lay & Bennett, 1839)

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★ Philippine chimaera, ''Hydrolagus deani'' (Smith & Radcliffe, 1912)

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★ ''Hydrolagus eidolon'' (Jordan & Hubbs, 1925)

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★ Blackfin ghostshark, ''Hydrolagus lemures'' (Whitley, 1939)

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★ ''Hydrolagus macrophthalmus'' de Buen, 1959

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★ ''Hydrolagus matallanasi'' Sotto & Vooren, 2004

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★ ''Hydrolagus mccoskeri''

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★ ''Hydrolagus media'' (Garman, 1911).

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★ Large-eyed rabbitfish, ''Hydrolagus mirabilis'' (Collett, 1904)

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★ Spookfish, ''Hydrolagus mitsukurii'' (Jordan & Snyder, 1904).

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★ Dark ghost shark, ''Hydrolagus novaezealandiae'' (Fowler, 1911)

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★ ''Hydrolagus ogilbyi'' (Waite, 1898)

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★ ''Hydrolagus pallidus'' Hardy & Stehmann, 1990

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★ Purple chimaera, ''Hydrolagus purpurescens'' (Gilbert, 1905)

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★ Pointy-nosed blue chimaera, ''Hydrolagus trolli'' Didier & Séret, 2002

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★ ''Hydrolagus waitei'' Fowler, 1908
Family Rhinochimaeridae

★ Genus ''Harriotta''

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★ Smallspine spookfish, ''Harriotta haeckeli'' Karrer, 1972

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★ Narrownose chimaera, ''Harriotta raleighana'' Goode & Bean, 1895.

★ Genus ''Neoharriotta''

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★ ''Neoharriotta carri'' Bullis & Carpenter, 1966

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★ Sicklefin chimaera, ''Neoharriotta pinnata'' (Schnakenbeck, 1931)

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★ ''Neoharriotta pumila'' Didier & Stehmann, 1996

★ Genus ''Rhinochimaera''

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★ ''Rhinochimaera africana'' Compagno, Stehmann & Ebert, 1990

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★ Spearnose chimaera, ''Rhinochimaera atlantica'' Holt & Byrne, 1909

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★ Pacific spookfish, ''Rhinochimaera pacifica'' (Mitsukuri, 1895)

References

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1. A new species of chimaeroid, Hydrolagus alphus sp. nov. (Chimaeriformes: Chimaeridae) from the Galapagos Islands, Quaranta et al., , , Zootaxa, 2006