Prehistoric ratfish discovered
Thursday, June 17, 2004 Posted: 2051 GMT (0451 HKT)
SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) -- Brazilian scientists have discovered a species of fish, related to sharks, that has been swimming the seas since dinosaurs walked the Earth, a researcher involved in the project said on Thursday.
The fish, which is a kind of chimaera, or ratfish, is about 12 inches to 16 inches (30 cm to 40 cm) long, has large, wing-like fins, a whip-like tail and exposed nerves along its body that help it navigate in the deep, dark waters where it lives.
The chimaera was initially found off the southern coast of Brazil in 2001 by commercial fishermen. Realizing it was a new species, Brazilian scientists dredged the ocean floor to find more examples of the fish, said Jules Soto, curator of the Oceanographic Museum of the University of the Vale do Itajai.
"The species that we found has fossil records that are 150, 180 million years old," Soto said in a telephone interview. "That's very rare."
"It's like if we had an animal as old as the Tyrannosaurus rex still alive," he said.
Dubbed Hydrolagus matallanasi after Spanish scientist Jesus Matallanas, the chimaera is a fish that has a skeleton largely made of cartilage, like sharks and rays.
