Hydrolagus africanus, African chimaera

Hydrolagus africanus (Gilchrist, 1922)

African chimaera
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Hydrolagus africanus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Hydrolagus africanus (African chimaera)
Hydrolagus africanus
Picture by Le Noury, P.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Holocephali (chimaeras) > Chimaeriformes (Chimaeras) > Chimaeridae (Shortnose chimaeras or ratfishes)
Etymology: Hydrolagus: hydro-, combining form of hydor (Gr.), water; lagos (Gr.), hare, i.e., “water rabbit,” probably referring to three pairs of tooth plates, which tend to protrude from the mouth like a rabbit’s incisors (See ETYFish); africanus: -anus (L.), belonging to: Africa, described from deep water off the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast of South Africa (See ETYFish).

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; bathydemersal; depth range 421 - 750 m (Ref. 3181). Deep-water

Distribution Territories | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Western Indian Ocean: off Kenya, Mozambique and Natal, South Africa.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 67.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3181)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 1; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 0. A shortnose chimaera with the dorsal fin spine longer than the head; 2nd dorsal fin with distinct concavity in the middle (Ref. 5578).
Body shape (shape guide): elongated.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Feeds on ophiuroids (Ref. 27637). Oviparous (Ref. 205). Eggs are encased in horny shells (Ref. 205).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Oviparous (Ref. 205).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Compagno, L.J.V., 1986. Chimaeridae. p. 144-145. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. (Ref. 3181)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2 (Global))

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 02 September 2019

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Venomous (Ref. 3181)





Human uses

Fisheries: of no interest
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items (preys)
Diet composition
Food consumption
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Predators
Ecology
Ecology
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Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
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Abundance
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Maturity
Maturity/Gills rel.
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Larvae
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Distribution
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References

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index
(Ref. 82804) 		PD50 = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight a=0.00331 (0.00137 - 0.00798), b=3.07 (2.87 - 3.27), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level
(Ref. 69278) 		4.1   ±0.60 se; based on food items.
Resilience
(Ref. 120179) 		Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (Assuming Fec <100).
Fishing Vulnerability
(Ref. 59153) 		Moderate to high vulnerability (55 of 100). 🛈