564 



The Holocephali, or Chima;ras 



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

 of the pavement teeth in cestraciont sharks." 



Family Chimgeridee. — The existing Chimasras are known also 

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

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

 Cliimcrridcc, 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 Chimirra monstrosa Linnaeus. (After Dean.) 



vary in the different genera. The single genus represented 

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

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

 elephant-fish, or chimara of California, abotuids 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 difterences in the claspers and in the tail, 

 Chimccra collici 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, Chuiurra 

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

 known than any other Chimfera. Chimccra afjinis has been 

 dredged in the Gulf Stream and oft' Portugal. Cluiiicrra pJian- 

 tasma and Clnmara mitsuknrii are frequently taken in Japan 



