GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION:
Chimaera occurs off the coasts of Europe from Norway to Portugal including the Mediterranean and also in the neighborhood of Azores, Cape of Good Hope.
COMMENTS:
i)Chimaera is commonly known as rat-fish or king of herrings.
ii) Body is elongated and shark-like, measuring up to 1 meter in length.
iii) Skin is naked with a characteristic open groove lodging the lateral line system.
iv) Head is large and compressed with a blunt conical snout.
v) Mouth and nostrils are ventral in position.
vi) Pectoral and pelvic fins are large- Caudal fin is present.
vii) Tail is long, tapering, and diphycercal
viii) In male; head possesses a frontal clasper armed with a pad of recurved denticles.
ix) A pair of claspers is also present behind the pelvic fins.
ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE:
– Considered as an intermediate / connecting link between cartilaginous and bony fish.
