The carpenter's chimaera (''Chimaera lignaria''), also known as the giant chimaera or the giant purple chimaera, is a species of

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

in the family

Chimaeridae The Chimaeridae, or short-nosed chimaeras, are a family (biology), family of cartilaginous fish. They resemble other Chimaeriformes, chimaeras in general form and habits, but have short, rounded snouts, without the modifications found in relate ...

Description

The carpenter's chimaera grows to in length; the largest specimen recorded, a male, had a total length of , although some specimens may grow up to roughly . It has been described as a "distinctly large and robust chimaera" and is purple in color, with a very large head. The claspers of males are colored purple at their intersection with the species' body while their tips are white. 1/3 of the area at the end of claspers is divided.

Biology and habitat

The carpenter's chimaera exhibits

oviparity Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings kno ...

, with egg shells containing "horns" on them. Males mature at a body length (BDL) of roughly , while females mature at BDL, generally equaling a total length of roughly . Little is known about the species' biology. The chimaera is a marine species, typically found on slanted and flat areas of deep oceans at the continental slope, sometimes extending into the

bathyal zone The bathypelagic zone or bathyal zone (from Greek βαθύς (bathýs), deep) is the part of the open ocean that extends from a depth of below the ocean surface. It lies between the mesopelagic above and the abyssopelagic below. The bathypela ...

. It has a broad depth range, occurring in waters – in depth, typically in the deeper part of this range. It is a

benthic fish Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 They oc ...

, meaning that it is denser than water and lives at the bottom of the sea floor.

Distribution and conservation

The carpenter's chimaera is found in the southwest Pacific Ocean and the eastern Indian Ocean, particularly in

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

, Australia and New Zealand. Its exact population is unknown; however, a large number of specimens have been found in deep waters from fishing and scientific research. Due to this, it is thought that the species is common in the parts of oceans it lives in. The species is threatened by trawls, which, when searching for other species that live in deep waters in the same area as the carpenter's chimaera, will sometimes catch this species incidentally. Aside from this, there are no major threats; the species is not targeted for commercial purposes. Studies have shown that the amount of the species caught as a bycatch by trawls in New Zealand has increased from 1990 – 2011; however, in Australia, it is currently caught infrequently, partially due to the Australian South Tasman Rise Trawl Fishery's shutting down in 2007. It also has some protection against fisheries due to the depths of the waters it lives in. No conservation actions are taking place for the species currently, although part of its range extends into protected areas. In June 2018 the New Zealand

Department of Conservation Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

classified the carpenter's chimaera as "Not Threatened" under the

New Zealand Threat Classification System The New Zealand Threat Classification System is used by the Department of Conservation to assess conservation priorities of species in New Zealand. The system was developed because the IUCN Red List, a similar conservation status system, had s ...

. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

lists it as

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

, as of 18 February 2015.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2925164 Chimaera Taxa named by Dominique A. Didier Dagit Fish described in 2002 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Marine fish of New Zealand Marine fish of Tasmania