Description: A medium-sized skate. Disc broadly rhombic, with sharply acute corners and undulated anterior margins. The snout is short and bluntly angled, with a pronounced tip. The tail is about as long as the body. Dorsal side of the disc smooth in juveniles; covered in dermal denticles in adults. Ochre to greyish-brown above, with numerous small dark spots and pseudo-eyespots of different sizes symetrically scattered on the disct, each encircled with black spots; underside white. Jaw teeth very small and numerous, in 60 to 90 rows on the upper jaw.
Global Distribution: Eastern Atlantic from the Shetland Islands to Morocco and Western Sahara, including Madeira. Also in the Mediterranean. View Map
BIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Size: Maximum length: male 120 cm (total length), female 125.0 cm (TL); maximum published weight: 14.3 kg.
Reproduction: Distinct pairing with embrace. Oviparous. Eggs are oblong capsules with stiff pointed horns at the corners deposited in sandy or muddy flats. Egg capsules are 10.0-14.3 cm long and 5.8-9.0 cm wide. About 40-90 eggs are laid per individual every year.
Maturity: 100.0 cm. British Isles (McCully et al. 2012): 78.0 cm (males), 83.4 cm (females).
Behavioural ecology: Young may tend to follow large objects, such as their mother.
Population structure & migrations:
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: FishBase: 10 - 380 m.
Habitat: Demersal. Found on sand and sand-rock bottoms.
Feeding habits: Feeds on all kinds of benthic animals.
Trophic level: FishBase: 4.0
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
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
McCully S.R., Scott F., Ellis J.R. (2012). Lengths at maturity and conversion factors for skates (Rajidae) around the British Isles, with an analysis of data in the literature. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 69(10): 1812-1822.
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.
