Posts Tagged ‘Rat or Rabbit Fish’
Rat or Rabbit Fish
Most fishes with a skeleton of cartilage rather than bone belong to the rays and sharks (suborder Elsamobranchii) A small second group, the chimaeras of the suborder Holocephali, are strange-looking deep-sea fishes. The rat fish or rabbit fish (not to be confused with the warm-water rabbit fishes of the family Siganidae, sometimes kept in aquariums) is an example. It has a long whip-like tail, big staring eyes, large pectoral fins, and a large dorsal fin with a long spine behind the head. Its small mouth has lips and rabbit-like tooth plates. Around Iceland and Norway it migrates to shallow seas to breed, and is sometimes caught by fishermen.
Scientific name : Chimaera monstrosa
Classification : Subclass Holocephali.
Order : Chimaeriformes (chimaeras)
Family : Chimaeridae
Size : Up to about 1.5m (5ft) long
Distribution : Eastern and northern Atlantic; Mediterranean; possibly other oceans
Habitat : Deep temperate and cold waters, mainly at 300-500m (1000-1600ft)
Diet : Mainly bottom-living invertebrates
Reproduction : Spawns in spring; eggs in slender cases, 18cm (7in) long