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| Chimaera supapae Ebert, Krajangdara, Fahmi & Kemper, 2024 |
Abstract
A new species of shortnose chimaera is described from a single specimen collected at 772–775 m depth in the Andaman Sea (07.54° N; 96.99° E) off Thailand. The species is distinguished from its congeners by the combination of the following characteristics: massive head with short snout; eyes relatively large, horizontally oval, eye length 32.2% head length; thin body with a relatively long trunk 40% body length (BDL), deciduous skin; uniformly dark brown; preopercular and oral lateral line canals sharing a common branch; posterior margin of pectoral fins slightly convex; long dorsal spine 27% BDL, longer than the first dorsal fin. The new species is morphologically close to Chimaera macrospina from Australia but differs in the length of the ventral caudal lobe, snout-vent length, and pectoral fin anterior margin length. It can be distinguished from C. macrospina and other Chimaera species based on the DNA sequence divergence of the mitochondrial ND2 gene.
Key words. Chondrichthyes, eastern Indian Ocean, SE Asia, morphology, genetics, taxonomy
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| Lateral view of Chimaera supapae, new species, holotype (PMBC 30399), immature male, 508 mm TL, 276 mm BDL (Before preservation). |
Chimaera supapae, new species
Andaman shortnose chimaera
Diagnosis. Chimaera supapae can be distinguished from all other chimaeroids by the following combination of characters: massive head with a short snout; eyes relatively large, horizontally oval, eye length 32.2% head length; thin and relatively long trunk 40% BDL, deciduous skin; uniformly dark brown, without any spots or stripes; preopercular and oral lateral line canals sharing a common branch; posterior margin of pectoral fins slightly convex; long dorsal spine 27 % BDL, longer than first dorsal fin.
Etymology. The epithet supapae is named to honor the late Professor Supap Monkolprasit (1934–2013), for her extensive work on the cartilaginous fishes of Thailand. She was the Dean of Faculty of Fisheries, Kasetsart University, Thailand during the years 1991–1995, but devoted her entire life to the study of cartilaginous fishes in Thailand.
Distribution. Known only from the type location ___ in the Andaman Sea off Thailand, eastern Indian Ocean at 772–775 m depth (Fig. 1).
