On the west coast of the country, 

 there are a few shallow-water repre- 

 sentatives of the group which are 

 locally abundant. 



Size 



In contrast with the wide size 

 ranges exhibited by sharks, skates, 

 and rays, the chimaeras constitute a 

 relatively uniform size group, with 

 extremes placed just below 2 feet at 

 maturity to a little over 6 feet. 



Food and Feeding Habits 



The chimaeras are carnivorous 

 and therefore predacious, as are most 

 members of the class Chondrichthyes. 

 Chimaeras, however, are feeble 

 swimmers and are selective in their 

 feeding only to the extent that they 

 feed upon animals with limited powers 

 of escape- -principally small fish and 

 invertebrates. In the Orient, where 

 they are fished with handlines, they 

 apparently bite a wide variety of baits. 



Anatomical Features 



Two out of three families of chi- 

 maeras are characterized by oddly 

 shaped prolongations of their snouts, 

 whereas members of the third family 

 possess gently rounded noses. These 

 rostral characteristics have been re- 

 sponsible, in large, for the various 

 common names applied to the group, 

 including "goat fish", "elephant fish", 

 "rabbit fish", and others. Chinnaeras 

 are also characterized by their large, 

 weak fins, a large spine in front of the 

 first dorsal fin, a groove along the 



back into ■which the spine and the first 

 dorsal fin can be folded, and a straight, 

 thin macrouridlike tail (hence the 

 common name "ratfish" for both the 

 bony-fish group Macrouridae and the 

 chimaeras). 



Chimaeras breathe by taking in 

 water through their nasal apertures, 

 passing it over the gills through respir- 

 atory channels (and removing part of 

 the oxygen from it), and sending it out 

 through the single openings on either 

 side. 



Chimaeras rest on the bottom at 

 irregular intervals. When doing so, 

 they are said to use the tips of the 

 large pectoral and pelvic fins as 

 "props" to support themselves off the 

 softer substrates. 



Relation to Man 



In the Pacific Northwest of the 

 United States, there is a minor fishery 

 for chimaeroids; the liver oil has a 

 small commercial value. In some other 

 parts of the world, however, the fish 

 are used on a large scale, owing to 

 their greater availability, high oil con- 

 tent, and edible quality. The fish form 

 the basis for an industrial oil fishery 

 in some Scandinavian countries and a 

 foodfish fishery in New Zealand as well 

 as in China and some other parts of 

 the Orient. 



Chimaeras present little or no 

 danger to humans, for despite their 

 ability to bite rather viciously, they 

 are usually either dead or dying when 

 pulled from the water. 



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