page_title: Chimaera
section_title: Classification
hierarchical_section_title: Chimaera / Classification
context_page_description: Chimaeras are cartilaginous fish in the order Chimaeriformes, known informally as ghost sharks, rat fish, spookfish, or rabbit fish; the last three names are not to be confused with rattails, Opisthoproctidae, or Siganidae, respectively.
  At one time a "diverse and abundant" group, their closest living relatives are sharks and rays, though their last common ancestor with them lived nearly 400 million years ago. Today, they are largely confined to deep water.
context_section_description: In some classifications, the chimaeras are included (as subclass Holocephali) in the class Chondrichthyes of cartilaginous fishes; in other systems, this distinction may be raised to the level of class. Chimaeras also have some characteristics of bony fishes.
  A renewed effort to explore deep water and to undertake taxonomic analysis of specimens in museum collections led to a boom during the first decade of the 21st century in the number of new species identified. There are 50 extant species in six genera and four families are described; an additional three genera  and two families are only known from fossils):
  Family Callorhinchidae Garman, 1901
  Genus Callorhinchus Lacépède, 1798
  Callorhinchus callorynchus Linnaeus, 1758 (ploughnose chimaera)
  Callorhinchus capensis A. H. A. Duméril, 1865 (Cape elephantfish)
  Callorhinchus milii Bory de Saint-Vincent, 1823 (Australian ghost shark)
  Family Chimaeridae Bonaparte, 1831
  Genus Chimaera Linnaeus, 1758
  Chimaera argiloba Last, W. T. White & Pogonoski, 2008 (whitefin chimaera)
  Chimaera bahamaensis Kemper, Ebert, Didier & Compagno, 2010 (Bahamas ghost shark)
  Chimaera cubana Howell-Rivero, 1936
  Chimaera fulva Didier, Last & W. T. White, 2008 (southern chimaera)
  Chimaera jordani S. Tanaka (I), 1905 (Jordan's chimaera)
  Chimaera lignaria Didier, 2002 (carpenter's chimaera)
  Chimaera macrospina Didier, Last & W. T. White, 2008 (longspine chimaera)
  Chimaera monstrosa Linnaeus, 1758 (rabbit fish)
  Chimaera notafricana Kemper, Ebert, Compagno & Didier, 2010 Cape chimaera
  Chimaera obscura Didier, Last & W. T. White, 2008 (shortspine chimaera)
  Chimaera opalescens Luchetti, Iglésias & Sellos, 2011
  Chimaera owstoni S. Tanaka (I), 1905 (Owston's chimaera)
  Chimaera panthera Didier, 1998 (leopard chimaera)
  Chimaera phantasma Jordan & Snyder, 1900 (silver chimaera)
  Genus Hydrolagus Gill, 1863
  Hydrolagus affinis Brito Capello, 1868 (smalleyed rabbitfish)
  Hydrolagus africanus Gilchrist, 1922 (African chimaera)
  Hydrolagus alberti Bigelow & Schroeder, 1951
  Hydrolagus alphus Quaranta, Didier, Long & Ebert, 2006 (whitespot ghost shark)
  Hydrolagus barbouri Garman, 1908
  Hydrolagus bemisi Didier, 2002 (pale ghost shark)
  Hydrolagus colliei Lay & E. T. Bennett, 1839 (spotted ratfish)
  Hydrolagus deani H. M. Smith & Radcliffe, 1912 (Philippine chimaera)
  Hydrolagus eidolon Jordan & Hubbs, 1925
  Hydrolagus homonycteris Didier, 2008 (black ghostshark)
  Hydrolagus lemures Whitley, 1939 (blackfin ghostshark)
  Hydrolagus lusitanicus Moura, Figueiredo, Bordalo-Machado, Almeida & Gordo, 2005
  Hydrolagus macrophthalmus de Buen, 1959
  Hydrolagus marmoratus Didier, 2008 marbled ghostshark
  Hydrolagus matallanasi Soto & Vooren, 2004 (striped rabbitfish)
  Hydrolagus mccoskeri Barnett, Didier, Long & Ebert, 2006 (Galápagos ghostshark)
  Hydrolagus melanophasma K. C. James, Ebert, Long & Didier, 2009 (Eastern Pacific black ghostshark)
  Hydrolagus mirabilis Collett, 1904 (large-eyed rabbitfish)
  Hydrolagus mitsukurii Jordan & Snyder, 1904 (spookfish)
  Hydrolagus novaezealandiae Fowler, 1911 (dark ghostshark)
  Hydrolagus ogilbyi Waite, 1898
  Hydrolagus pallidus Hardy & Stehmann, 1990
  Hydrolagus purpurescens Gilbert, 1905 (purple chimaera)
  Hydrolagus trolli Didier & Séret, 2002 (pointy-nosed blue chimaera)
  Hydrolagus waitei Fowler, 1907
  Family Rhinochimaeridae Garman, 1901
  Genus Harriotta Goode & Bean, 1895
  Harriotta haeckeli Karrer, 1972 (smallspine spookfish)
  Harriotta raleighana Goode & Bean, 1895 (Pacific longnose chimaera)
  Genus Neoharriotta Bigelow & Schroeder, 1950
  Neoharriotta carri Bullis & J. S. Carpenter, 1966 (dwarf sicklefin chimaera)
  Neoharriotta pinnata Schnakenbeck, 1931 (sicklefin chimaera)
  Neoharriotta pumila Didier & Stehmann, 1996 (Arabian sicklefin chimaera)
  Genus Rhinochimaera Garman, 1901
  Rhinochimaera africana Compagno, Stehmann & Ebert, 1990 (paddle-nose chimaera)
  Rhinochimaera atlantica Holt & Byrne, 1909 (straightnose rabbitfish)
  Rhinochimaera pacifica Mitsukuri, 1895 (Pacific spookfish)
caption: Chimaera monstrosa
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