Informative Speech On Chimaeras

After a plethora of studies made we know quite a bit about the ocean and the creatures that live there. We know who is the prey and who is the predator, what temperature some live in, and where they live. We know so much about the ocean and its inhabitants, but we also don’t know enough. There is more in the ocean than the things we’ve seen and studied. There’s things deep down in the ocean so deep that light from the sun doesn’t even reach it. In this deep abyss, there lives fish we have come to call the Chimaera. These fish are found in the deep water where they hunt with their tooth plates which they use to grid into hard bodied prey. Today I will be giving you some information on Chimaeras to increase your knowledge on them and to understand

The venomous spine is located near the dorsal fin. The poison released from the fin may be mildly poisonous to humans, but it can inflict a painful wound nonetheless. This venomous spine keeps the Chimaera protected from any predator that may come by. They also have another dorsal fin, but the second fin does not have a venomous spine near it. This particular spine can grow to 1.5 m. The head on a Chimaera is covered by a sensory canal which helps it be aware of both prey and predator. Their teeth on the Chimaera are often seen protruding from the mouth which looks like a rodent’s incisors hints the name ratfish. Even though their teeth may look like a real threat they are as sharp as a shark’s teeth. Their skin tends to be smooth covered with placoid scales like a shark or a ray. They have long thick bodies with a rather thin tail. Like sharks the Chimaera has cartilage instead of bones. When swimming, they flap their large pectoral fin as if they were wings which in turn propels them through the water. Chimaera have four gills covered by an operculum on each side of its head. The fertilization is internal due to the male chimaera’s pelvic fins or claspers that they use to grab and hold onto the female chimaera during copulation. It is hard to study the development of the Chimaera due to the deep-water habitat in which they mostly reside. Chimaera reproduce by laying eggs; these eggs are covered in another egg layer and dropped onto the ocean floor. Their diet consists of prey such as crabs, clams, and echinoderms. The Chimaera may also eat other fish if need be. There main predators include humans, sharks, and really anything brave enough get near it’s venomous