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Monday, August 23, 2010

Pacific NW | Rise of the Ratfish in Puget Sound | Seattle Times Newspaper

Pacific NW Rise of the Ratfish in Puget Sound Seattle Times Newspaper
Facts:
Ratfish are also called ghost sharks.

Spotted ratfish hatch as miniature adults, a few inches long.
The ratfish's dorsal spine is made of dentin, similar to mammalian teeth.
Mature fish can exceed 3 feet in length.
Females are dominant and larger than males.
Females can store sperm and use it later to fertilize their eggs.
There are 37 species worldwide in the Chimaeriformes order, which includes ratfish. Among the odder ones are the cockfish of Argentina and the elephantfish of New Zealand.
Spotted ratfish occur from Alaska to the tip of Baja.
Biologists have netted two albino ratfish in Puget Sound, one in 2007 and one this year.
Ratfish mature at about 13 years of age, and probably live more than 20 years.
Ratfish tend to hang with their own age group. Divers have reported seeing masses of young fish.
The green glow of the ratfish eye is due to a lowlight adaptation called a tapetum lucidum, a membrane similar to that in cats' eyes that reflects light back onto the retina.
Aquariums around the world collect Puget Sound ratfish.
Want to know more? "Life History, Abundance and Distribution of the Spotted Ratfish, Hydrolagus colliei," by Lewis Abraham Kamuela Barnett
http://nsgl.gso.uri.edu/casg/casgy08001.pdf


Here is elasmodivers.org information page on "Ghost Sharks"

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