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Scientists have discovered a never - before - pick up specie of"ghost shark"with a monumental top dog , giant , shot eyes and feathery pentad in the depths of the Andaman Sea off the coast of Thailand .
The problematic deep - ocean puppet , namedChimaera supapae , is a gristly fish in the order of the oldest fishes alive today , Chimaeriformes . These ancient fish are distant relatives ofsharksand ray .
Scientists account the discovery in a paper published March 6 in the journalRaffles Bulletin of Zoology .
" Chimaera are rarefied in this area of the world,“David Ebert , conduct source of the study and programme director of the Pacific Shark Research Center at San Jose State University in California , recite Live Science in an email .
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Chimaeras inhabit the continental slope and ocean ridge of the abstruse sea . line up at depths below 1,640 feet ( 500 metre ) , these ghostly individuals lurk in dark waters , feeding on bottom - dwelling animals such as crustacean , mollusks and louse .
" There were only 53 known species of chimera in the earth ; this crap 54 , " Ebert enounce . Their bass - sea nature wee them difficult to find , especially in the Andaman Sea , where depths in some areasexceed 14,500 foot ( 4,400 m ) .
The coarse names of chimaera — spook shark and ratfish — add up from their self-aggrandising , reflective eyes and scab - like , tapered bodies . Some mintage can grow up to 6.6 feet(2 m)long .
The all in green male specimen was discovered as part of a deep - ocean survey task carried out in 2018 . The scientist collected it during a bottom trawl in the Andaman Sea between 2,533 and 2543 feet ( 772 to 775 K ) below the open . researcher agnize it as a newfound specie by its " massive principal with short nozzle " and its large , oval eyes that are over 32 % of its total head length .
The newly described metal money is a type of shortnose chimaera , measuring 20 in ( 51 centimeter ) long with broad pectoral cinque . Ebert suspect the creature ’s feathering - like frills have to do with " their ability to channelize over rocky can of eminent easing . "
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C. supapae ’s bighearted , iridescent , dark-green oculus aid the animal see in the pitching - inglorious waters . Its dark - brown tegument showed no noticeable melody or form , and the Pisces has a dorsal sticker on the top of its head .
The species was namedsupapaeafter the tardy Supap Monkolprasit , a scientist from Thailand who spent her life studying cartilaginous fishes . The genus nameChimaeracomes from the Grecian mythical flaming - breathing creaturethat has three heads — the pass of a lion at the front , a goat ’s read/write head that extends from its back and a serpent tail that terminate with the head of a snake .
" Evolutionarily , these Chimera are among some of the old derivation of fishes with the line of descent going back 300 - 400 million year , " Ebert said . " The discovery of newfangled species like this chimaera tells us how little we make love about the marine environment and how much is still to be explored . "
