New species of ratfish from the North East Pacific. This specimen was observed in the Gulf of California, Mexico by MBARI's Remotely Operated Vehicle Tiburon in 2003. www.calacademy.org NEW SPECIES OF "GHOSTSHARK" NAMED BY ACADEMY RESEARCHERS Ancient and bizarre fish is distantly related to sharks; Found off the coast of Southern California and Baja California SAN FRANCISCO (September 21, 2009) — New species are not just discovered in exotic locales—even places as urban as California still yield discoveries of new plants and animals. Academy scientists recently named a new species of chimaera, an ancient and bizarre group of fishes distantly related to sharks, from the coast of Southern California and Baja California, Mexico. The new species, the Eastern Pacific black ghostshark (Hydrolagus melanophasma), was described in the September issue of the international journal Zootaxa by a research team including Academy Research Associates David Ebert (also with Moss Landing Marine Laboratories) and Douglas J. Long (also with the Oakland Museum of California). Additional co-authors included Kelsey James, a graduate student at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, and Dominique Didier from Millersville University in Pennsylvania. This is the first new species of cartilaginous fish to be described from California waters since 1947. Chimaeras, also called ratfish, rabbitfish, and ghostsharks, are perhaps the oldest and most enigmatic groups of fishes alive today. Their closest living <b>...</b>