''Rhinochimaera pacifica'', commonly known as the Pacific spookfish, knifenose chimaera, narrownose chimaera, Pacific long-nosed chimaera, or Pinocchiofish, is a species of

chimaera Chimaeras are cartilaginous fish in the order Chimaeriformes , known informally as ghost sharks, rat fish, spookfish, or rabbit fish; the last three names are not to be confused with rattails, Opisthoproctidae, or Siganidae, respectively. At ...

in the family

Rhinochimaeridae The Rhinochimaeridae, commonly known as long-nosed chimaeras, are a family (biology), family of cartilaginous fish. They are similar in form and habits to other chimaeras, but have an exceptionally long conical or paddle-shaped snout. The snout h ...

. It lives in various parts of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and can be characterized by its long snout.

Description

''Rhinochimaera pacifica'' grows to a total length of roughly 130 cm, with a body length of roughly 62 cm. Female specimens are typically larger than males. It has a long, narrow snout and smooth tooth plates. The snout is elongated, and its length can be anywhere from 50 to 87% of the body length, ending at a blunted tip. One of its two dorsal fins is short in length but tall, while the other is lower and longer. Its caudal fin is long, and contains denticles on its upper lobe. It has a brown upperside and a more greyish-brown underside, with a white snout. The edges of the fins tend to be darker in color, ranging from a dark brown to purple color. Specimens in the northwest Pacific have been found to be considerably darker than ones in the southwest Pacific. Juveniles are normally much paler than adults.

Distribution

''Rhinochimaera pacifica'' lives in the northwestern and southwestern parts of the

. It lives in depths of 760 to 1290 m. In particular, it occurs off

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. It also lives off

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

, and may occur in the deeper waters of the rest of the eastern Pacific Ocean. Its population is unknown. It is sometimes taken as a

bycatch Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...

, but otherwise has few or no threats.

Conservation status

It is assessed as having the conservation status of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

. In June 2018, the New Zealand

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...

classified ''R. pacifica'' as "not threatened" with the qualifier "data poor" under the

New Zealand Threat Classification System The New Zealand Threat Classification System is used by the Department of Conservation to assess conservation priorities of species in New Zealand. The system was developed because the IUCN Red List, a similar conservation status system, had some ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2280911 pacifica Taxa named by Kakichi Mitsukuri Species described in 1895 Fish of the Pacific Ocean