Chimaera
From Freepedia
| Chimaera | ||||||||
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| Image:Chimaera-fish.jpg Ratfish | ||||||||
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Callorhynchidae |
- Other meanings, based on a fantastic animal, are at Chimera.
Chimaera is the common name of the species in the families Callorhynchidae, Rhinochimaeridae and Chimaeridae which all are closely related to sharks; they are also called ghost sharks.
Chimaeras live in temperate ocean floors and grow to be up to 2 meters. As all members of the chondrichthyes class, chimaeras have a skeleton constructed of cartilage. The skin is smooth and lacks scales, and its color can range from black to brownish gray.
For defense, the chimaera has a poisonous spine located in front of its dorsal fin.
Chimaeras resemble sharks in some ways: they employ claspers for internal fertilization of females and they lay eggs with leathery cases. They differ from sharks in that their upper jaw is fused with the skull; they also have separate anal and urogenital openings.
