The longspine chimaera (''Chimaera macrospina'') is a

chimaera Chimaeras are Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous fish in the order (biology), order Chimaeriformes (), known informally as ghost sharks, rat fish (not to be confused with rattails), spookfish, or rabbit fish; the last two names are also applied to B ...

species 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 ...

. It is found off of the eastern and western coasts of Australia, and lives in tropical and temperate waters 435–1,300 meters deep. Males and females grow to a maximum total length of 93.9 and 103.4 centimeters, respectively, and are brown in color.

Description

The maximum length of male longspine chimaera is roughly 93.9 centimeters, and roughly 103.4 centimeters for females. It is brown in color and has deciduous skin, with males having short claspers 11–13% of their body length.

Distribution and conservation

The longspine chimaera occurs exclusively in waters off the coasts of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It lives on the west coast in the eastern part of the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

and on the east coast in the western

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, and is native to

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, and

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. However, one specimen was seen near the coast of

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 ...

, south of Victoria, on 1 April 1988. The population of the species or its relative trend is unknown, but it is not severely threatened. It is not a commercial target, but it is sometimes accidentally caught by trawls in deep waters. Most fisheries which operate in areas where the longspine chimaera lives, mostly fish in waters shallower than the typical depth range of the species. However, some fisheries, notably the Australian Commonwealth-managed Western Deepwater Trawl Fishery and the Coral Sea Fishery, catch fish in deeper waters, sometimes where the longspine chimaera occurs. This could be a potential threat to the species. There are currently no conservation actions occurring for this species, and as of February 2015, it is listed 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 ...

IUCN 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 status ...

Behavior and habitat

The longspine chimaera is a marine species, living in tropical waters and warmer temperate waters. It is most commonly found from waters 800 meters deep to 1,300 meters deep, although it often lives in waters as shallow as 435 meters in depth as well. The species is

oviparous 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 ...

, like the rest of the species in the order Chimaeriformes. Besides this, very few biological facts are known about the longspine chimaera.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2657052 Chimaera Marine fish of Eastern Australia Marine fish of Western Australia Taxa named by Dominique A. Didier Dagit Taxa named by Peter R. Last Taxa named by William Toby White Fish described in 2008