A Feat in Raising a Deep Sea Species!
Chimaeras are cartilaginous fish, also known as ghost sharks, rat fish, spookfish, or rabbit fish, found in all temperate oceans. Although related to sharks, the upper jaws of Chimaeras are fused to their skulls and they have a single gill opening. These deep-sea species, which mostly live near the seafloor up to a depth of 2,600 metres (8,500 feet), have been extremely difficult to raise in captivity. This week it was announced that a team of scientists at Planet Ocean Montpellier, located in southern France on the Mediterranean coast, managed to hatch the eggs of chimeras from the Pacific Ocean and thus far have kept the juveniles alive for a year. To ensure the fish would survive, the team created a special incubation tank and hand-fed the. They also adjusted the water temperature, lighting, placement of the eggs and other factors to ensure the fish survived.