This Ancient Fish Species is 150 Million Years Older Than Dinosaurs
Chimaeras (or ghost sharks) are found in every ocean except the polar regions and usually live hundreds or thousands of metres deep.
Deep in the murky depths of the world's oceans, there lives an ancient fish that glides along by flapping their wing-like pectoral fins instead of swishing their rattish tail. They look similar to a shark but with bigger eyes, a more protruding snout and only one visible gill opening. They diverged from sharks and rays around 400 million years ago and around 50 species can still be found in our seas today. But, because they tend to live in very deep waters, scientists still have lots to discover about them.
Also known as ghost sharks, chimaeras are not true sharks but are very similar to sharks and rays and have a common ancestor - these cartilaginous fish split off from elasmobranchs around 400 million years ago. Today, they range in size from 60cm to 2 metres in length depending on the species and usually weight up to around 4kg (8.8lbs).
Although some species can be found in shallower waters, they usually live far, far below the surface because they feed on animals that hide in the seabed. These creatures therefore spend most of their lives close to the seafloor, typically, between 200 and 2,600 metres.
The earliest fossil specimen of a chimaera is a skull, dated to roughly 280 million years ago and given the name Dwykaselachus oosthuizeni, which was discovered during the 1980s in the Karoo region of South Africa.
