 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2010) |
| Spotted ratfish | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Holocephali |
| Order: | Chimaeriformes |
| Family: | Chimaeridae |
| Genus: | Hydrolagus |
| Species: | H. colliei
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| Binomial name | |
| Hydrolagus colliei Lay & E. T. Bennett, 1839
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The spotted ratfish (Hydrolagus colliei) is a chimaera found in the north-eastern Pacific Ocean. Often seen by divers at night in the Pacific Northwest, this cartilaginous fish gets its characteristic name from a pointed rat-like tail. The ratfish lays leathery egg cases on the bottom of muddy or sandy areas, which are often mistaken by divers as something inanimate. While mainly a deep-water species, it occurs at shallower depths in the northern part of its range. The generic name, Hydrolagus, comes from the Greek words ὕδωρ, meaning water,[2] and λαγώς/λαγῶς, meaning hare,[2] and the specific name honors Alexander Collie, who was a ship surgeon and early naturalist. The spotted ratfish is common in much of its range, not typically eaten by humans, and is not commercially caught.[1][3]
- ^ a b Barnett, L.A.K.; Ebert, D.A.; Dagit, D.D. (2015). "Hydrolagus colliei". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2015: e.T60191A80678052. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T60191A80678052.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ a b Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Hydrolagus colliei". FishBase. September 2015 version.