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Pacific Spookfish
Rhinochimaera pacifica (Mitsukuri, 1895)
A Pacific Spookfish trawled by K. Graham on FRV Kapala at a depth of 910m, off Sydney, New South Wales, December 1977. View larger image.
The Pacific Spookfish has a long, flexible snout, small eyes and smooth tooth plates. It has two dorsal fins, the first is short-based and tall with a strong spine. The second is long-based and low.
This species has a long caudal fin, the upper lobe of which has a row of fleshy tubercles.
It is brown above and grey-brown below. It has a white snout and black teeth.
The Pacific Spookfish grows to over 1.2m in length (without the caudal filament).
This species is found in scattered localities in the Western Indian and Pacific Oceans.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Further reading
- Last, P.R. & J.D. Stevens. 1994 Sharks and Rays of Australia. CSIRO. Pp. 513.
