Its small eyes, long snout and armoured body lend a prehistoric, or clownish,
look to Haeckel's chimaera. It is distinguished from other Atlantic chimaeras
by its long, upward curving snout, the arched head profile, the placement of the
mouth below the eye, and the length of the body, which is greater than that of
its tail. It lacks an anal fin but both the pelvic and pectoral fins have fleshy
lobes that extend from their base.
Very few individuals of this strange looking fish have been found; some specimens
have been collected from depths of 1813–2603 m off the Greenland coast in
Davis Strait and off the northern United States coast. Given these rare occurrences,
it is very likely that this fish also occurs in Canadian Arctic waters.
