Researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California captured the first-ever underwater footage of pointy-nosed blue chimaeras, a rare species of”ghost sharks,” while researching deepwater valleys around the Hawaiian Islands and off the coast of Central California.
It also marks the first time the species, which was first discovered in 2002 off the coast of New Zealand, had been spotted anywhere in the northern hemisphere.
According to MBARI:
Like sharks, their bodies are not stiffened by bones, but by plates and bone-like bits of cartilage. Like the chimaera from Greek mythology, which had a goat’s head, a serpent’s tail, and a lion’s head, chimaeras are pretty weird looking. Even the common names for this group—ghost sharks, rabbitfishes, and ratfishes—sound like creatures one might see at Halloween. However, chimaeras are relatively common and widespread in the deep sea, with 38 known species around the world.
The video was taken in 2009, but was released to the public as part of a research paper presented in November by MBARI researcher Lonny Lundsten regarding his colleagues collaboration with scientists at the California Academy of Sciences and Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, which attempted to identify what they thought was a previously unidentified species.
After consulting with several experts on the species from around the world, it was determined that the the species of ghost shark captured on the ROV footage was likely Hydrolagus cf. trolli, although an exact identification can not be determined without DNA evidence.
Source: MBARI.org