London: A freakish-looking fish hauled recently from the chilly depths of northeastern Canada has been identified as a long-nosed chimaera.
The identity of the fish, which boasts a whip-like tail and an enlarged cone-shaped nose, remained a mystery for days after it was captured by Nunavut fishermen in the Hudson Strait.
That’s understandable because these denizens, although they exist in oceans around the world, inhabit depths of up to 6,000 feet and are rarely encountered.
An extremely weird looking fish was snagged recently in the frigid artic waters off northern Canada and after some confused speculation about what it even is, researchers have identified it as the super rare long-nosed chimaera.
The spooky, deep sea fish has a long nose, menacing mouth, and a venomous spine atop its gelatinous grey body and was caught near the northernmost province of Nunavut in Davis Straight.
Researchers, who at first believed the odd fish was the similarly freakish goblin shark, say the long-nosed chimaera likely makes its home at depths not often visited by humans.
‘Potentially, if we fish deeper, maybe between 1,000 and 2,000 metres (3,000 to 6,000 feet), we could find that's there's actually quite a lot of them there,’ University of Windsor researcher Nigel Hussey told CBC. ‘We just don’t know.’
Hussey, who is credited with finally identifying the fish, says the mystery comes from the strange creature’s rarity.
‘Only one of these fish has previously been documented from the Hudson Strait,’ Hussey said.
Like all chimaeras, the long-nosed species is a distant relative of sharks and rays.
The long-nosed chimaera has a whip-like tail and can grow to around three feet long.
A photo of the Davis Straight specimen, thanks largely to its sheer weirdness, has gone viral since it was posted online after being caught by a Nunavut fishing boat.
