5 6 4 



The Holocephali, or Chimasras 



elements which resemble outwardly, at least, the 'anlagen' 

 of the pavement teeth in cestraciont sharks." 



Family Chimaeridae. The existing Chimaeras are known also 

 as spookfishes, ratfishes, and elephant-fishes. These are divided 

 by Garman into three families, and in the principal family, the 

 Chimceridce, the snout is blunt, the skin without plates, and 

 the dorsal fin is provided with a long spine. The flat tritors 



FIG. 351. Skeleton of Chimcera monstrosa Linnaeus. (After Dean.) 



vary in the different genera. The single genus represented 

 among living fishes is Chimcera, found in cold seas and in the 

 oceanic depths. The best-known species, Chimcera colliei, the 

 elephant-fish, or chimaera of California, abounds in shallow 

 waters of ten . to twenty fathoms from Sitka to San Diego. 

 It is a harmless fish, useless except for the oil in its liver, and 

 of special interest to anatomists as the only member of the 

 family to be found when desired for dissection. This species 

 was first found at Monterey by Mr. Collie, naturalist of Captain 

 Beechey's ship, the Blossom. It is brown in color, with whitish 

 spots, and reaches a length of 2^ feet. As a shallow-water 

 form, with certain differences in the claspers and in the tail, 

 Chimcera colliei is sometimes placed in a distinct genus, Hydro- 

 lagus. Other species inhabit much greater depths and have 

 the tail produced into a long filament. Of these, Chimcera 

 monstrosa, the sea-cat of the north Atlantic, has been longer 

 known than any other Chimaera. Chimcera affinis has been 

 dredged in the Gulf Stream and off Portugal. Chimcera phan- 

 tasma and Chimcera mitsukurii are frequently taken in Japan, 



