Silver chimaera
Chimaera phantasma
- Usual depth320–656 m
- Water temperature8–29 °C
- Best monthsApril, July, and September
- How commonRare
About this species
The silver chimaera, or ginzame, is a species of holocephalan in the family Chimaeridae. They are found in the deep sea along the coast of East Asia, from Japan to Indonesia. They are chondrichthyans, closely related to sharks and rays, which means that they have a fully cartilaginous skeleton with no true bones.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Silver chimaera”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 2 records
- February: 1 records
- March: 0 records
- April: 6 records
- May: 0 records
- June: 1 records
- July: 6 records
- August: 1 records
- September: 6 records
- October: 6 records
- November: 5 records
- December: 2 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 320–656 m · Deepest record: 880 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 8–29 °C
Names and classification
- English
- Silver chimaera
Names in 5 more languages
- German
- Pazifische Seeratte, Silber-Chimäre
- Spanish
- Quimera plateada
- Japanese
- Ginzame, ギンザメ
- Thai
- ปลาหนูสีเงิน
- Simplified Chinese
- 沙鰷, 銀鮫, 黑線銀鮫, 黑翅沙, 鼠魚
Other scientific names: Chimaera pseudomonstrosa
Similar species
Australian Ghost SharkChimaera ogilbyi
Jordan's ChimaeraChimaera jordani
- Whitefin Chimaera
Chimaera argiloba
- Southern Chimaera
Chimaera fulva
- Carpenter’s Chimaera
Chimaera lignaria
- Longspine Chimaera
Chimaera macrospina
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 213 open-data records from 1900 to 2007.
- Species data updated October 26, 2026.
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