Chimaera
Ratfish
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| Scientific classification |
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| Families |
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Callorhynchidae
Rhinochimaeridae
Chimaeridae |
- Other meanings, based on a fantastic animal, are at Chimera
Chimaera is the common name of the species in the families Callorhynchidae, Rhinochimaeridae and Chimaeridae which all are closely related to sharks. Also called ghost sharks.
Chimaeras live in temperate ocean floors and grow to be up to 2 meters, as all members of the chondrichthyes class, chimaeras have a cartilage instead of a skeleton. The skin is smooth and lacks scales and the colors range from black to brownish gray.
For defense, the chimaera has a poisonous spine located in front of their dorsal fin.
Chimaeras resemble sharks in some ways, they employ claspers for internal fertilization of females and they lay eggs with leathery cases. Although they differ from sharks considering their upper jaw is fused with the skull, they also have separate anal and urogenital openings.
Chimaera was the flagship of Grand Admiral Thrawn in Timothy Zahn's Star Wars book trilogy. It was an Imperial Star Destroyer captained by Gilad Pellaeon. See Chimaera (Star Wars) for more information on this space craft.
