Bigelow's ray

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Bigelow's ray
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Order: Rajiformes
Family: Rajidae
Genus: Rajella
Species:
R. bigelowi
Binomial name
Rajella bigelowi
(Stehmann, 1978)
Synonyms [2]
  • Raja (Rajella) bigelowi Stehmann, 1978
  • Raja bigelowi Stehmann, 1978

Bigelow's ray (Rajella bigelowi), also called the chocolate skate or Bigelow's skate, [3] is a species of cartligainous fish belonging to the family Rajidae, the hardnose skates. This species is found in the Western Atlantic Ocean. [4] [5] [6]

Contents

Taxonomy

Bigelow's ray was first formally described as Raja (Rajella) bigelowi in 1978 by the German ichthyologist Matthias Stehmann with its type locality given as the Northwestern Atlantic at 37°05'N, 74°20.6'W from the Columbus Iselin station 91 at a depth of 1,719 m (5,640 ft). [2] Stehmann originally proposed Rajella as a subgenus of Raja , with Raja fyllae as its type species, but Rajella is now recognised as a valid genus within the family Rajidae. [7] The family Rajidae is included in the order Rajiformes, the skates. [8]

Etymology

Bigelow's ray is classified in the genus Rajella, a name which is a diminutive of Raja, the genus it was originally proposed to be a subgenus of, given because of the relatively small size of its type species. The specific name honours the American oceanographer and marine biologist Henry B. Bigelow of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in recognition for his work on cartilaginous fishes. [9]

Description

Like all rays, Bigelow's ray has a flattened body with broad, wing-like pectoral fins. The body is sub-rhomboid. It is dark on the dorsal surface, with the outer edges of the disc and pelvic fins shading to a slightly darker colour. [4]

Its maximum length is 55 cm (1.80 ft). [10]

Distribution and habitat

Bigelow's ray has a disjunct distribution in the northern Atlantic. In the Western Atlanticit occurs from the Gulf of Mexico north ro New England and on the Scotian Shelf Grand Banks and Labrador Shelf of Canada, [1] and the French territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, [11] and Greenland. In the Eastern Atlantic it is found from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Rockall Trough to the Bay of Biscay and along the African coast at northern Morocco, the Azores, Western Sahara and Guinea Conakry> [1] Bigelow's ray lives on continental slopes and deepwater and has been recorded at 367–4,156 m (1,204–13,635 ft), mostly below 1,500 m (4,900 ft). [12] [13]

Behaviour

Bigelow's ray feeds on small benthic crustaceans. [14]

Life cycle

Bigelow's ray is oviparous. The eggs are oblong capsules with stiff pointed horns at the corners; they are deposited in sandy or muddy flats. [15]

It is parasitised by Ditrachybothridium macrocephalum (tapeworms of the order Diphyllidea). [10]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kulka, D.W.; Dulvy, N.K. & Derrick, D. (2020). "Rajella bigelowi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2020: e.T161371A124473309. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T161371A124473309.en . Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  2. 1 2 Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Rajella". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 5 July 2025.
  3. ↑ Hamlett, William C. (May 21, 1999). Sharks, Skates, and Rays: The Biology of Elasmobranch Fishes. JHU Press. ISBN   9780801860485 – via Google Books.
  4. 1 2 Government of Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (December 19, 2016). "Chocolate or Bigelow's Skate (Rajella bigelowi)". www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca.
  5. ↑ Priede, Imants G. (August 10, 2017). Deep-Sea Fishes: Biology, Diversity, Ecology and Fisheries. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   9781316033456 – via Google Books.
  6. ↑ Coad, Brian W.; Reist, James D. (January 1, 2018). Marine Fishes of Arctic Canada. University of Toronto Press. ISBN   9781442647107 – via Google Books.
  7. ↑ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Rajidae". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  8. ↑ Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer; Ronald Fricke. "Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes Classification". Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  9. ↑ V (13 June 2025). "Family RAJIDAE Blainville 1816 (Skates)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  10. 1 2 "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Rajella bigelowi (Stehmann, 1978)". www.marinespecies.org.
  11. ↑ Gaëlle Simian; Daniel Abraham; Nicolas Bailly; et al. (2022). "Checklist of fishes from the Saint-Pierre and Miquelon archipelago". Cybium: International Journal of Ichthyology. 46 (4): 371–384. doi:10.26028/cybium/2022-464-005.
  12. ↑ Carrier, Jeffrey C.; Musick, John A.; Heithaus, Michael R. (March 9, 2010). Sharks and Their Relatives II: Biodiversity, Adaptive Physiology, and Conservation. CRC Press. ISBN   9781420080483 – via Google Books.
  13. ↑ "Shorefishes - The Fishes - Species". biogeodb.stri.si.edu.
  14. ↑ Last, Peter; Naylor, Gavin; Séret, Bernard; White, William; Stehmann, Matthias; Carvalho, Marcelo de (December 1, 2016). Rays of the World. Csiro Publishing. ISBN   9780643109155 – via Google Books.
  15. ↑ "Rajella bigelowi, Bigelow's ray". www.fishbase.se.
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