White-blotched skate
| White-blotched skate | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Superorder: | Batoidea |
| Order: | Rajiformes |
| Family: | Rajidae |
| Genus: | Bathyraja |
| Species: | B. maculata |
| Binomial name | |
| Bathyraja maculata Ishiyama & Ishihara, 1977 | |
The white-blotched skate, Bathyraja maculata, is a species of skate from the western North Pacific.[1] An adult is approximately 1 meter in length, and is found at depths of up to 1 kilometer.[2] Unlike any other known member of the genus Bathyraja, the white-blotched skate has white blotches on a grey to brown dorsal surface, while the ventral side is lighter in color with darker blotches. Dorsal side is rough with spines, while the ventral side is smooth. [3]
Range
The white-blotched skate is well established to inhabit waters in the Northern Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk and Aleutian islands. It was the most commonly caught skate in a NOAA bottom-trawl survey of the Aleutian Islands in 2006.[4] Initially thought to inhabit only the western margin of the Gulf of Alaska, trawl surveys have now found specimens along the eastern margin as well.[5]
References
- ↑ Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2007). "Bathyraja maculata" in FishBase. November 2007 version.
- ↑ ZipcodeZoo.com. "Bathyraja maculata (White-Blotched Skate)". Archived from the original on February 6, 2012. Retrieved 2007-11-13.
- ↑ Ishiyama, Reizo; Hajime Ishihara. "Five New Species of Skates in the Genus Bathyraja from the Western North Pacific, with Reference to Their Interspecific Relationships". Japanese Journal of Ichthyology. 24 (2): 71–90.
- ↑ Rooper, C.N. (2008). Data Report: 2006 Aleutian Islands Bottom Trawl Survey. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-AFSC-179.
- ↑ Bizzarro, Joseph; Michael T. Vaughn (2008). "First records of the whiteblotched skate (Bathyraja maculata) in the Eastern Gulf of Alaska". Northwestern Naturalist. 89 (3): 193–197. doi:10.1898/NWN08-14.1.