Bathyraja spinicauda

• Overview
• Common Names
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Family : Skates ; An inhabitant of deep, cold water [1]. Feed on all kinds of bottom animals[2]. Oviparous [3]. Distinct pairing with embrace. Young may tend to follow large objects, such as their mother[4]. Eggs are oblong capsules with stiff pointed horns at the corners deposited in sandy or muddy flats[4]. Egg capsules are 13.4-16.5 cm long and 8.0-10.2 cm wide[5][6].

Common Names

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Description

Family Rajidae

Benthic rays occurring in all oceans, from Arctic to Antarctic waters and from shallow coastal shelfs to abyssal regions; rare in tropical shallow waters or near coral reefs; some species enter brackish waters. Disc quadrangular to rhomboidal . Mouth transversed to arched, with numerous teeth. Five pairs of ventral gill slits . Tail very slender, with lateral folds, usually 2 reduced dorsal fins and a reduced caudal fin. Electric organs weak, developed from caudal muscles. Skin prickly in most species, the prickles often in a row along midline of dorsal. Oviparous ; eggs in a horny capsule with four long tips . A reversal to egg-laying from live-bearing was observed in this group based on fossil records [3]. Skates feed on other benthic organisms. Skate wings are considered good eating. The following subgenus have been elevated to the genus level: Amblyraja, Dipturus, Fenestraja, Leucoraja, Okamejei, Rajella, Rostroraja[7].The family Rajidae belongs to the Class Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) and the Order Rajiformes. It contains 14 genera and 200 species. It may be found in Marine and Brackish environments and is primarily Marine. Members of this family are not used in the aquarium trade. Reproductively, most members of this family are nonguarders. The main mode of swimming of adult fish in this family is rajiform. Compared with other fish, the activity level of this family tends to be normal. Members of this family have been dated back to the Cretaceous period. Etymology of this family name : Latin, raja = ray

Habitat

May be found at depths of 140 to 800 meters. Usually found at depths of 165 to 255 meters.

Typically found in water with a depth of 0 to -4,586 meters (0 to -15,046 feet).[8]

Biome: Saltwater . Bathydemersal .

Taxonomy

Unambiguous Synonyms

1. Breviraja smithii /i> (M�ller & Henle, 1841)
2. Raja smithii M�ller & Henle, 1841
3. Raja spinicauda Jensen, 1914

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Similar Species

Members of the genus Bathyraja

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 59 species and subspecies in this genus:

B. abyssicola (Deep-Sea Skate) · B. aguja (Aguja Skate) · B. albomaculata (White-Dotted Skate) · B. aleutica (Aleutian Sculpin) · B. andriashevi (Little-Eyed Skate) · B. bergi (Bottom Skate) · B. brachyurops (Broadnose Skate) · B. caeluronigricans (Purple-Black Skate) · B. cameroni · B. cousseauae (Joined-Fins Skate) · B. diplotaenia (Dusky-Pink Skate) · B. eatonii (Eaton's Skate) · B. fedorovi (Cinnamon Skate) · B. griseocauda (Graytail Skate) · B. hesperafricana (West African Skate) · B. hubbsi (Mud Skate) · B. interrupta (Sandpaper Skate) · B. irrasa (Kerguelen Sandpaper Skate) · B. isotrachys (Challenger Skate) · B. kincaidi · B. kincaidii · B. lindbergi (Commander Skate) · B. longicauda (Slimtail Skate) · B. maccaini (Mccain's Skate) · B. macloviana (Patagonian Skate) · B. maculata (White-Blotched Skate) · B. magellanica (Magellan Common Ray) · B. mariposa (Butterfly Skate) · B. matsubarai (Dusky-Purple Skate) · B. meridionalis (Dark-Belly Skate) · B. minispinosa (Smallthorn Skate) · B. multispinis (Multispine Skate) · B. murrayi (Murray's Skate) · B. notoroensis (Notoro Skate) · B. pallida (Pallid Skate) · B. papilionifera (Whitemouth Skate) · B. papilonifera (Whitemouth Skate) · B. parmifera (Flathead Sculpin) · B. peruana (Peruvian Skate) · B. pseudoisotrachys (Bottom Skate) · B. richardsoni (Richardson´s Moray) · B. rosispinis · B. scaphiops (Cuphead Skate) · B. schroederi (Whitemouth Skate) · B. shuntovi (Longnose Deepsea Skate) · B. simoterus (Hokkaido Skate) · B. smirnovi (Golden Skate) · B. smithi (African Softnose Skate) · B. smithii (African Softnose Skate) · B. spinicauda (Spiny-Tailed Skate) · B. spinosissima (Pacific White Skate) · B. spp · B. taranetzi · B. trachouros (Eremo Skate) · B. trachura (Roughtail Skate) · B. trachura morph · B. tzinovskii (Creamback Skate) · B. violacea (Okhotsk Skate) · B. pseudoisotrachys

More Info

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Further Reading

• Andriyashev, A.P. (1964). Fishes of the northern seas of the U.S.S.R. Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem. 617 p. (Translated from Russian)
• Fritzsch, B. and P. Moller (1995). A history of electroreception. p. 39-55. In P. Moller, Electric Fishes: history and behavior. Fish and Fisheries series 17. Chapman & Hall, London.
• Haedrich, R.L. and N.R. Merrett (1988). Summary atlas of deep-living demersal fishes in the North Atlantic Basin. Journal of Natural History 22:1325-1362.
• Jonsson, G. (1992). Islenskir fiskar. Fiolvi, Reykjavik, 568 pp.
• Leim, A.H. and W.B. Scott (1966). Fishes of the Atlantic coast of Canada. Bull. Fish. Res. Board Can. (155):485 p.
• McEachran, J.D. and K.A. Dunn (1998). Phylogenetic analysis of skates, a morphologically conservative clade of elasmobranchs (Chondrichthyes: Rajidae). Copeia 1998(2):271-290.
• McEachran, John D., and Katherine A. Dunn 1998. Phylogenetic Analysis of Skates, a Morphologically Conservative Clade of Elasmobranchs (Chondrichthyes: Rajidae). Copeia, vol. 1998, no. 2. 271-290.
• Moore, Jon A., Karsten E. Hartel, James E. Craddock, and John K. Galbraith 2003. An annotated list of deepwater fishes from off the New England region, with new area records. Northeastern Naturalist, vol. 10, no. 2. 159-248.
• Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986). A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
• Stehmann, M. and D.L. B�rkel (1984). Rajidae. p. 163-196. In P.J.P. Whitehead, M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen and E. Tortonese (eds.) Fishes of the north-eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean. UNESCO, Paris. vol. 1.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-2007. Systema Naturae 2000. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Accessed April 2, 2007.
• FishBase
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 01, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 3 providers.
• McEachran, John (from FishBase).

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 01, 2008:

• Canadian Museum of Nature: Canadian Museum of Nature Fish Collection
• FishBase: FishBase DiGIR Provider - Philippine Server
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University: Atlantic Reference Centre (OBIS Canada)
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University: Canadian Museum of Nature - Fish Collection (OBIS Canada)
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University: DFO Maritimes Research Vessel Trawl Surveys Fish Observations (OBIS Canada)
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University: ECNASAP - East Coast North America Strategic Assessment (OBIS Canada)
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University: iziko South African Museum - Shark Collection
• Museum national d'histoire naturelle: Ichtyologie
• Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University: MCZ Fish Collection

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2488488
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Fis-15353
• Fishbase Species ID: 2569
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13535536
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 160932
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: AFDFD02070
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 104543

Footnotes

1. Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986). A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p. [back]
2. Stehmann, M. and D.L. B�rkel (1984). Rajidae. p. 163-196. In P.J.P. Whitehead, M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen and E. Tortonese (eds.) Fishes of the north-eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean. UNESCO, Paris. vol. 1. [back]
3. Dulvy, N.K. and J.D. Reynolds (1997). Evolutionary transitions among egg-laying, live-bearing and maternal inputs in sharks and rays. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 264:1309-1315. [back]
4. Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966). Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p. [back]
5. Lacourt, A.W. (1979). Eikapsels van de kraakbeenvissen, roggen, haaien, draakvissen (Chondrichthyes) van Noord-en West Europa. Wetenschap. Meded. (135):1-27 p. [back]
6. Funicelli, N.A. (1972). Egg cases of cartilaginous fishes of the Western North Atlantic. Long Island University. 57 p. M.S. thesis. [back]
7. McEachran, J.D. and K.A. Dunn (1998). Phylogenetic analysis of skates, a morphologically conservative clade of elasmobranchs (Chondrichthyes: Rajidae). Copeia 1998(2):271-290. [back]
8. Mean = -560.390 meters (-1,838.550 feet), Standard Deviation = 644.970 based on 1,211 observations. Ocean depth information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]

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