Rhinochimaera africana (Paddlenose chimaera)

Compagno, Stehmann & Ebert, 1991

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates)  > Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Chondrichthyes > Holocephalii > Chimaeriformes > Rhinochimaeridae

Rhinochimaera africana (Paddlenose chimaera) [Illustration by Ann Hecht ©]

Identification

A blackish-brown longnose chimaera with a broad, greatly elongated, paddle-shaped snout, sharp-edged smooth tooth plates, narrow pectoral fins, no anal fin, and a caudal fin with a very short terminal filament and wide-spaced tubercles on its upper edge.

Size

To at least 1.1 m TL.

Range

West coast off Doring Bay. Endemic.

Habitat

Deep slope on or near bottom at 826 m.

Biology

Unknown. Known from a single juvenile female, others seen but more wanted.

Human Impact

Rarely trawled and not utilized.

Text by Leonard J.V. Compagno, David A. Ebert and Malcolm J. Smale