Cartilaginous fish · Chimaeriformes · Chimaeridae

Rabbitfish

Chimaera monstrosa

Near Threatened

It could become endangered in the near future if current threats go unchecked. See full glossary

The rabbitfish or ratfish belongs to a lineage that split from sharks and rays more than four hundred million years ago: the holocephalans, the oldest surviving group of cartilaginous fish. It has a very long whip-like tail, huge green eyes and a venomous spine in front of the dorsal fin.

Weight

1 kg – 5 kg

Size

60 cm – 1.5 m

Lifespan

30 years

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Activity

Nocturnal

Active mainly at night.

Social structure

Solitary

Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.

Sighting difficulty

Moderate

OceanCarnivore Nocturnal Solitary Near Threatened Fish Ocean

34countries 22parks 3dive sites

Fun facts

anatomíaIt has a single fused tooth plate rather than separate teeth, and the males carry an extra retractable organ on the forehead whose role in breeding is still not fully understood.
Its lineage split from that of sharks and rays more than four hundred million years ago: the chimaeras are the oldest living group of cartilaginous fish, and their fossil relatives are known from before the dinosaurs existed.
The males have a retractable appendage with spines on the forehead, called a tenaculum, which they use to hold the female during mating, an organ with no equivalent in any other vertebrate.
Its eyes, huge and a reflective green, gather the faint light of the depths where it lives, and shine when lit up like a cat's.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - cartilaginous skeleton (fish)
Habitat & environment: Continental slope bottoms of the north-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, between 300 and 1,000 metres
Sexual maturity: 11.4 years
Gestation / incubation: 10 months of egg incubation
Litter / clutch size: 22

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimaera_monstrosa