Long-nosed Chimaera

Rarely ever seen, the long-nosed chimaera is an oddity among oddities. All chimaeras are poorly understood, but the long-nose, with its whip-like tail and long snout, is especially so. The group branched off from sharks, its closest relative, around 400 million years ago and have remained a distinct, and distinctly odd, lineage ever since and have been basically unchanged since they shared the Earth with dinosaurs. Like sharks and rays, chimaeras have a skeleton made of cartilage. An extremely weird looking fish was snagged recently in the frigid artic waters off northern Canada and after some confused speculation about what it even is, researchers have identified it as the super rare long-nosed chimaera.The spooky, deep sea fish has a long nose, menacing mouth, and a venomous spine atop its gelatinous grey body and was caught near the northernmost province of Nunavut in Davis Straight.Researchers, who at first believed the odd fish was the similarly freakish goblin shark, say the long-nosed chimaera likely makes its home at depths not often visited by humans.‘Potentially, if we fish deeper, maybe between 1,000 and 2,000 metres (3,000 to 6,000 feet), we could find that's there's actually quite a lot of them there,’ University of Windsor researcher Nigel Hussey told CBC. ‘We just don’t know.’ 

‘Only one of these fish has previously been documented from the

Hudson Strait,’ Hussey said. Like all chimaeras, the long-nosed species is a distant relative of sharks and rays.The long-nosed chimaera has a whip-like tail and can grow to around three feet long.The chimaera is one of the world's oldest species of fish.It goes by various names including ratfish, rabbitfish, and ghostsharks.But they aren't sharks. Most species of chimaera live their lives in the dark, deep sea abyss. The enigmatic fish has its closest cousin in the shark, but the chimaera is much less common and for less studied.Most species of chimaera have a mildly venomous spine on their back. The long-nosed chimaera is no exception.Some species of chimaera are even eaten as food in some parts of the world.But the enigmatic fish is largely restricted to deep ocean waters, putting it out of reach to most fishermen and scientists.For these reasons, the strange creatures are poorly studied and understood.