Description: A medium-sized skate. Disc broadly rhombic, with acute outer corners; anterior margins deeply concave; extremely long and pointed snout. Solid tail, about as long as the body, gradually tapering toward the tip, with two small dorsal fins at the rear end; which may or may not have a thorn between them. Dorsal side of the disc smooth in young specimens, gradually covered in dermal denticles with age; mature males have a small thorn fields on each 'wing', and thorns along the tail. Young specimens are light brown, large specimens are dark brown or grey with a more or less distinct pattern of light spots and black dots on the dorsal surface.
Global Distribution: Eastern Atlantic from Norway to Senegal, including the Faeroes, Skagerrak, Mediterranean, and Madeira and the Canary islands. View Map
Reproduction: Oviparous. Distinct pairing with embrace. Eggs are oblong capsules with stiff pointed horns at the corners deposited in sandy or muddy flats. Egg capsules are 14.0-23.5 cm long and 11.0-12.0 cm wide.
Maturity: 120 cm
Behavioural ecology: Young may tend to follow large objects, such as their mother.
Population structure & migrations:
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: FishBase: 15 - 900 m, usually 200 - ? m.
Habitat: Bathydemersal. Found in deeper slope waters, but mainly around 200 m. Found on sand and sand-rock bottoms.
Feeding habits: Feed on all kinds of benthic animals.
Trophic level: FishBase: 3.5
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Minor commercial species. Commercially it is not distinguished from other skates of the family Rajidae.
Conservation status: Global: Near threatened.
Europe: Near threatened.
Nutritional information & food safety:
REFERENCES
Borges T.C., Olim S., Erzini K. (2003). Weight–length relationships for fish species discarded in commercial fisheries of the Algarve (southern Portugal). Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 19(6): 394-396.
Direcção Regional de Pescas, Madeira.
Ebert D.A., Stehmann M.F.W. (2013). Sharks, batoids, and chimaeras of the North Atlantic. FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes, No. 7. FAO, Rome, 523 pp.
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
Nieto A., Ralph G.M., Comeros-Raynal M.T., Kemp J., GarcÃa Criado M., Allen D.J., Dulvy N.K., Walls R.H.L., Russell B., Pollard D., GarcÃa S., Craig M., Collette B.B., Pollom R., Biscoito M., Labbish Chao N., Abella A., Afonso P., Ãlvarez H., Carpenter K.E., Clò S., Cook R., Costa M.J., Delgado J., Dureuil M., Ellis J.R., Farrell E.D., Fernandes P., Florin A-B., Fordham S., Fowle, S., Gil de Sola L., Gil Herrera J., Goodpaster A., Harvey M., Heessen H., Herler J., Jung A., Karmovskaya E., Keskin C., Knudsen S.W., Kobyliansky S., KovaÄić M., Lawson J.M., Lorance P., McCully Phillips S., Munroe T., Nedreaas K., Nielsen J., Papaconstantinou C., Polidoro B., Pollock C.M., Rijnsdorp A.D., Sayer C., Scott J., Serena F., Smith-Vaniz W.F., Soldo A., Stump E., Williams J.T. (2015). Europen Red List of Marine Fishes. IUCN and European Union, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 90 pp.
