To see photographs of the Pacific Spookfish (Rhinochimaera pacificus) click here.
Pacific Spookfish (Rhinochimaera pacificus)
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protected: © 2002 Kelvin Aitken.
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only. Not for commercial use.
Pacific Spookfish (Rhinochimaera pacificus) and other Spookfish have
a similar body structure to chimaeras but they also sport a long spear-shaped
snout. The photograph above is of a Pacific Spookfish (Rhinochimaera pacificus),
the first underwater photograph ever to be taken of this species. The
snout has sensory mucus- filled canals and pits on the underside that
help the spookfish locate their prey. They eat shellsed invertebrates
and crustaceans, such as crabs, which are crushed in their beak-like mouth.
Spookfish live in very deep water, from depth of 700-1700 m. In other
areas of their global distribution they have been trawled from depths
as great as 2600 m. Males have typical chimaera-like clasper arrays and
females lay large ribbed tadpole-shaped eggs with wide membranes on the
side.