Image 8-4
Deep Sea Chimaera

This unusual deep sea fish is known as a chimaera. It was captured by NOAA photographers in the extremely deep waters off the coast of Indonesia. They are closely related to sharks and like sharks, their soft bodies are supported by cartilage instead of bone. Chimaeras live on temperate ocean floors down to 8,500 feet (2,600 meters) deep. They have elongated, soft bodies, with a bulky head and a single gill-opening. They grow up to maximum size of 5 feet (150 centimeters) in length.