A fisherman in Nunavut, Canada has made one of the rarest catches ever recorded in the region. According to the CBC, a Nunavut fishing vessel somewhere in the Davis Strait pulled up a long-nosed chimaera, also known as Rhinochimaeridae. The strange-looking fish is usually found deep within the ocean at depths of about 660 to 6,600 feet.
“Only one of these fish has previously been documented from the Hudson Strait,” said researcher Nigel Hussey, who identified the fish. “Potentially, if we fish deeper, maybe between 1,000 and 2,000 metres, we could find that’s there’s actually quite a lot of them there. We just don’t know.”
There is a lot that experts do not know about long-nosed chimaeras. These extraordinary deep-sea creatures have large, wing-like fins that give the appearance of flight when they swim. It is a trait they have borrowed from stingrays and sharks, which they are distantly related to. The long-nosed chimaera also sports a venomous spine in their first dorsal fin as a defense against predators.
You can see a long-nosed chimaera in its natural environment below: