First North Pacific records of the pointy nosed blue chimaera, Hydrolagus cf. trolli (Chondrichthyes: Chimaeriformes: Chimaeridae)

Amber N Reichert,David A Ebert,Lonny Lundsten

doi:10.1186/s41200-016-0095-5

Abstract

The occurrence of Hydrolagus cf. trolli is reported for the first time from the central and eastern North Pacific Ocean. This is a geographic range extension for this species, as it was previously only known to occur in the southern Pacific Ocean off of Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia.

Highlights

There are 38 recognized species of short-nosed chimaeras, making it the most species rich family in the order Chimaeriformes (Kemper et al 2015)
Until recently Hydrolagus colliei (Lay and Bennett, 1839) and Hydrolagus melanophasma (James, Ebert, Long, and Didier, 2009) were the only species confirmed to occur in the northeastern Pacific
Hydrolagus colliei is found from Alaska to Costa Rica, while H. melanophasma occurs off southern California, USA to northern Chile (Angulo et al, 2014; Aguirre-Villaseñor et al 2013)

Summary

Introduction

There are 38 recognized species of short-nosed chimaeras (family Chimaeridae), making it the most species rich family in the order Chimaeriformes (Kemper et al 2015). Central North Pacific records of chimaeras are few, with only the purple chimaera, Hydrolagus purpurescens (Gilbert 1905), being reported from the Hawaiian Islands. The pointy nosed blue chimaera, Hydrolagus trolli (Didier and Séret 2002), was described from 23 specimens.

Results

Conclusion