- Chimaera
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This article is about the cartilaginous fish order. For the namesake genus, see Chimaera (genus). For the mythological beast, see Chimera (mythology). For other uses, see Chimera (disambiguation).
Chimaeras
Temporal range: Early Devonian-Recent[1]
Hydrolagus colliei Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Chondrichthyes Subclass: Holocephali Order: Chimaeriformes
Obruchev, 1953Families Callorhinchidae
Chimaeridae
RhinochimaeridaeChimaeras[1] are cartilaginous fish in the order Chimaeriformes, known informally as ghost sharks, ratfish (not to be confused with the rattails), spookfish (not to be confused with the true spookfish of the family Opisthoproctidae), or rabbitfishes (not to be confused with the true rabbitfishes of the family Siganidae). They may be the "oldest and most enigmatic groups of fishes alive today."[2] At one time a "diverse and abundant" group (based on the fossil record), their closest living relatives are sharks, though in evolutionary terms they branched off from sharks nearly 400 million years ago and have remained isolated ever since.[2] Today they are largely confined to deep water.[2]
Contents
Description and habits
Chimaera egg
Chimaeras live in temperate ocean floors down to 2,600 metres (8,500 ft) depth, with few occurring at depths shallower than 200 metres (660 ft). Exceptions include the members of the genus Callorhinchus, the rabbit fish and the spotted ratfish, which locally/periodically can be found at relatively shallow depths. Consequently, these are also among the only species from the Chimaera order that are kept in public aquaria.[3] They have elongated, soft bodies, with a bulky head and a single gill-opening. They grow up to 150 centimetres (4.9 ft) in length, although this includes the lengthy tail found in some species. In many species, the snout is modified into an elongated sensory organ.[4]
Like other members of the class Chondrichthyes, chimaeras have a skeleton constructed of cartilage. Their skin is smooth and largely covered by placoid 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. However, unlike sharks, male chimaeras also have retractable sexual appendages on the forehead (a type of tentaculum)[5] and in front of the pelvic fins.[4] The females lay eggs in spindle-shaped leathery cases.[1]
They also differ from sharks in that their upper jaws are fused with their skulls and they have separate anal and urogenital openings. They lack sharks' many sharp and replaceable teeth, having instead just three pairs of large permanent grinding tooth plates.They have gill cover or operculum like bony fishes.[4] Chimaera are the only vertebrates to retain traces of a third pair of limbs.[6]
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.
A renewed effort to explore deep water and to undertake taxonomic analysis of specimens in museum collections led to a boom during the first decade of the 21st century in the number of new species identified.[2] There are more than fifty extant species in six genera and three families (an additional three genera and two families are only known from fossils):
Elephantfish, Callorhinchus callorynchusFamily Callorhinchidae Garman, 1901
- Genus Callorhinchus Lacépède, 1798
- Callorhinchus callorynchus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Ploughnose chimaera)
- Callorhinchus capensis A. H. A. Duméril, 1865 (Cape elephantfish)
- Callorhinchus milii Bory de Saint-Vincent, 1823 (Australian ghost shark)
- Genus †Edaphodon-prehistoric
- †Edaphodon agassizi Buckland, 1835
- †Edaphodon antwerpiensis Leriche, 1926
- †Edaphodon bucklandi Agassiz, 1843
- †Edaphodon eyrensis Long, 1985
- †Edaphodon kawai Consoli, 2006
- †Edaphodon laqueatus Leidy, 1873
- †Edaphodon leptognathus - (has not been formally classified) Agassiz
- †Edaphodon minor
- †Edaphodon mirabilis - (has not been formally classified)
- †Edaphodon mirificus Leidy, 1856
- †Edaphodon sedgwicki
- †Edaphodon smocki Cope
- †Edaphodon stenobryus Cope
- †Edaphodon tripartitus Cope
Family Chimaeridae Bonaparte, 1831
- Genus Chimaera Linnaeus, 1758
- Chimaera argiloba Last, W. T. White & Pogonoski, 2008 (Whitefin chimaera)
- Chimaera bahamaensis Kemper, Ebert, Didier & Compagno, 2010 (Bahamas ghost shark)
- Chimaera cubana Howell-Rivero, 1936
- Chimaera fulva Didier, Last & W. T. White, 2008 (Southern Chimaera)
- Chimaera jordani S. Tanaka (I), 1905 (Jordan's Chimaera)
- Chimaera lignaria Didier, 2002 (Carpenter's chimaera)
- Chimaera macrospina Didier, Last & W. T. White, 2008 (Longspine Chimaera)
- Chimaera monstrosa Linnaeus, 1758 (Rabbit fish)
- Chimaera notafricana Kemper, Ebert, Compagno & Didier, 2010 Cape Chimaera
- Chimaera obscura Didier, Last & W. T. White, 2008 (Shortspine Chimaera)
- Chimaera opalescens Luchetti, Iglésias & Sellos, 2011[7]
- Chimaera owstoni S. Tanaka (I), 1905 (Owston's Chimaera)
- Chimaera panthera Didier, 1998 (Leopard Chimaera)
- Chimaera phantasma Jordan & Snyder, 1900 (Silver chimaera)
Smalleyed rabbitfish, Hydrolagus affinis- Genus Hydrolagus Gill, 1863
- Hydrolagus affinis (Brito Capello, 1868) (Smalleyed rabbitfish)
- Hydrolagus africanus (Gilchrist, 1922) (African chimaera)
- Hydrolagus alberti Bigelow & Schroeder, 1951
- Hydrolagus alphus Quaranta, Didier, Long & Ebert, 2006[8]
- Hydrolagus barbouri (Garman, 1908)
- Hydrolagus bemisi Didier, 2002 (Pale ghost shark)
- Hydrolagus colliei (Lay & E. T. Bennett, 1839) (Spotted ratfish)
- Hydrolagus deani (H. M. Smith & Radcliffe, 1912) (Philippine chimaera)
- Hydrolagus eidolon (Jordan & Hubbs, 1925)
- Hydrolagus homonycteris Didier, 2008 (Black Ghostshark)
- Hydrolagus lemures (Whitley, 1939) (Blackfin ghostshark)
- Hydrolagus lusitanicus Moura, Figueiredo, Bordalo-Machado, Almeida & Gordo, 2005
- Hydrolagus macrophthalmus de Buen, 1959
- Hydrolagus marmoratus Didier, 2008 Marbled Ghostshark
- Hydrolagus matallanasi Soto & Vooren, 2004 (Striped rabbitfish)
- Hydrolagus mccoskeri Barnett, Didier, Long & Ebert, 2006 (Galápagos Ghostshark)
- Hydrolagus melanophasma K. C. James, Ebert, Long & Didier, 2009 (Eastern Pacific Black Ghostshark)
- Hydrolagus mirabilis (Collett, 1904) (Large-eyed rabbitfish)
- Hydrolagus mitsukurii (Jordan & Snyder, 1904) (Spookfish)
- Hydrolagus novaezealandiae (Fowler, 1911) (Dark ghostshark)
- Hydrolagus ogilbyi (Waite, 1898)
- Hydrolagus pallidus Hardy & Stehmann, 1990
- Hydrolagus purpurescens (Gilbert, 1905) (Purple chimaera)
- Hydrolagus trolli Didier & Séret, 2002 (Pointy-nosed blue chimaera)
- Hydrolagus waitei Fowler, 1907
- Hydrolagus sp. D/G Giant Black Chimaera
- Hydrolagus sp. F Peruvian Ratfish
Family Rhinochimaeridae Garman, 1901
- Genus Harriotta Goode & Bean, 1895
- Genus Neoharriotta Bigelow & Schroeder, 1950
- Neoharriotta carri Bullis & J. S. Carpenter, 1966
- Neoharriotta pinnata (Schnakenbeck, 1931) (Sicklefin chimaera)
- Neoharriotta pumila Didier & Stehmann, 1996
- Genus Rhinochimaera Garman, 1901
Family †Squalorajidae
- Genus Squaloraja Agassiz, 1836
Family †Echinochimaeridae
- Genus Echinochimaera Lund, 1977
- †Echinochimaera meltoni Lund, 1977
- †Echinochimaera snyderi Lund, 1988
Phylogenetics
The evolution of these species has been problematic given the paucity of good fossils. DNA sequences have become the preferred approach to understanding speciation.[9]
The order appears to have originated about 420 million years ago during the Silurian. The 39 extant species fall into three families - the callorhinchids, rhinochimaerids and chimaerids) with the callorhinchids being the most basal clade. The families appear to have diverged during the late Jurassic to early Cretaceous (170-120 MYA.)
See also
References
Specific references:
- ^ a b c Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2009). "Chimaeriformes" in FishBase. January 2009 version.
- ^ a b c d "Ancient And Bizarre Fish Discovered: New Species Of Ghostshark From California And Baja California". ScienceDaily. September 23, 2009. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090922095816.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
- ^ Tozer, H., & D. D. Dagit (2004). Husbandry of Spotted Ratfish, Hydrolagus colliei.
- ^ a b c Stevens, J. & Last, P.R. (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N.. ed. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 69. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
- ^ Freaky New Ghostshark ID’d Off California Coast, a September 22, 2009 blog post from Wired Science
- ^ American Wildlife, Wm. H, Wise & Co., Inc. New York, 1947. p. 279
- ^ Luchetti, E.A., Iglésias, S.P. & Sellos, D.Y. (2011): Chimaera opalescens n. sp., a new chimaeroid (Chondrichthyes: Holocephali) from the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean. Journal of Fish Biology, 79 (2): 399–417.
- ^ Quaranta et al. (2006). "A new species of chimaeroid, Hydrolagus alphus sp. nov. (Chimaeriformes: Chimaeridae) from the Galapagos Islands". Zootaxa 1377: 33–45. http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2006f/z01377p045f.pdf.
- ^ Inoue JG, Miya M, Lam K, Tay BH, Danks JA, Bell J, Walker TI, Venkatesh B.(2010) Evolutionary origin and phylogeny of the modern holocephalans (Chondrichthyes: Chimaeriformes): A mitogenomic perspective. Mol. Biol. Evol.
General references:
- Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Chimaeriformes" in FishBase. January 2006 version.
Extant cartilaginous fish orders Elasmobranchii Hexanchiformes (frilled and cow sharks) · Echinorhiniformes (bramble sharks) · Squaliformes (dogfish sharks) · Pristiophoriformes (sawsharks) · Squatiniformes (angel sharks) · Heterodontiformes (bullhead sharks) · Orectolobiformes (carpet sharks) · Carcharhiniformes (ground sharks) · Lamniformes (mackerel sharks)Holocephali Chimaeriformes (chimaeras)Categories:- Chimaeriformes
- Cartilaginous fish
- Genus Callorhinchus Lacépède, 1798
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