(Photo: Wikimedia Commons/NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, INDEX-SATAL 2010, NOAA/OER)
A strange-looking shark was identified as a new species of chimaera. It was reportedly discovered in 2018.
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New Species of Ghost Shark Discovered
In a new study, researchers detailed the discovery of a new species of ghost shark, or chimaera, among the oldest fish lineages. It was named Chimaera supapae.
The study discovered a dead juvenile male with eyes almost a third the size of its skull, leading them to identify it as a new species. Its gigantic eyes glow in the dark. Additionally, it has feather-like fins and a hideous head.
It measured around 20 inches in length, and its feather-like frills may have made walking easier over rough terrain. It is named Chimaera supapae in honor of Supap Monkolprasit, a Thai biologist who studied fish that resembled ghost sharks for her entire career.
"There were only 53 known species of chimaera in the world; this makes 54," said David Ebert, lead author of the study and program director of the Pacific Shark Research Center at San Jose State University in California. "Chimaera are rare in this region of the world."
The recently identified species is a shortnose chimaera with large pectoral fins and a length of 20 inches (51 centimeters). According to Ebert, its feather-like frills may be related to "their ability to maneuver over rocky bottoms of high relief."
The fish was discovered during a deep-sea study in the Andaman Sea in 2018. The exploration involved scouring the ocean floor at 2,533 to 2,543 ft depth.
These chimeras belong to some of the oldest fish lineages in evolution, dating back 300-400 million years. The finding of new species such as this chimaera reminds us how little we understand about the marine environment and how much research remains.
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What Are Ghost Sharks?
Ghost sharks or chimaeras are cartilaginous fish that resemble sharks but differ in several ways. One is that they have only one gill on each side of their bodies.
Chimaeras are creatures of deep water that, depending on the species, can reach lengths of over six feet. Their eyes give off an unsettling, almost ghostly appearance because of the reflecting tissue layer behind them, which gives the impression that they are glowing in the dark.
"Chimaera" is a common name for cartilaginous fish, which are members of the family Chondrichthyes, specifically the subclass Holocephali, which includes sharks, skates, and rays -- the closest extant relatives of ghost sharks.
Present-day Holocephali species, which were formerly a highly diverse subclass, are now limited to a single order, Chimaeriformes, which is further divided into three families: Callorhinchidae (plough-nosed chimaeras), Rhinochimaeridae (long-nosed chimaeras), and Chimaeridae (short-nosed chimaeras, the order's type family). Though more are still sometimes found, there are about 50 extant chimaeras, about four percent of all chondrichthyan species.
Ghost sharks are expert deep-water residents who spend most of their time gliding gently over the seabed between 400 and 2,000 meters in search of invertebrate prey.
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