Rare Long-nosed Chimaera Fished out of Canadian Waters

A rare fish found in the Arctic waters has been identified as the "long-nosed chimaera", scientific name  Rhinochimaeridae.

It was caught off the Nunavut coast, northern Canada by a fishing boat. It was first mistaken as the goblin shark, but was later correctly identified as the "long-nosed chimaera" by a Canadian University researcher.

"The fish some speculated was a goblin shark is actually the mysterious "long-nosed chimaera" - mysterious because they're rarely caught," said Nigel Hussey, a researcher from the Ocean Tracking Network who identified the fish, according to CBC News.

The reason behind the mistaken identity of the fish is that it is very rare and was documented just once before in Hudson Strait, Canada.

"Only one of these fish has previously been documented from the Hudson Strait," Hussey stated.

These fishes live in deep waters, below 2,000 to 3,000 feet, which makes it difficult to catch them, hence, the rare sightings. It is believed that they have existed in the oceans for more than 350 million years.

"Potentially, if we fish deeper, maybe between 1,000 and 2,000 meters, we could find that's there's actually quite a lot of them there. We just don't know," said Hussey.

The "long-nosed chimaera" is believed to be a distant sibling of the sharks and stingrays. The species is equipped with a mildly poisonous fin on top, which it uses for defending itself.

Researchers hope to fish out more information about this species to improve their knowledge and understanding about it. Hussey identified the species with the help of photographs and is hopeful of making a definite confirmation after he receives some specimens of the fish.

"We think this species is a knifenose chimaera (Rhinochimaera atlantica). There is another species which they call the longnose so we don't wish for confusion!" Hussey told the Huffington Post.

The photos of the fish went viral on the internet on Nov.10.