Common Name
American Legskate
Year Described
Bigelow & Schroeder, 1962
Identification
Disk broad, very flattened and spade-shaped, with a very long snout (17.4-19.3% TL). The snout tip is filamentous. Pectoral fin origin almost at snout tip. Eyes close together. Mouth slightly to moderately arched with 20-26 rows of teeth. Pelvic fins divided into anterior and posterior sections; the anterior part long and limb-like and the posterior part small and attached to the tail. Tail lacks dorsal fins and lateral folds, has a small caudal fin (divided by vertebral column), and is 53-54% of TL. Body naked except for small alar thorn patch in males. Claspers narrow and relatively short.
Color
Uniformly grayish-brown above with no markings. Snout filament is brown. Ventrum whitish with extensive areas of brown mottling.
Size
Maximum size to 38cm TL.
Habitat
Captured in deep shelf and slope waters from 183-915m over soft bottoms.
Range
Caribbean Sea: off Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Honduras to off the Guianas and Venezuela.
References
Bigelow, H.B. & W.C. Schroeder. 1962. New and little known batoid fishes from the Western Atlantic. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology v. 128 (no. 4): 161-244, Pl. 1.
Last, P.R., White, W.T., Carvalho, M.R. de, Séret, B., Stehmann, M.F.W & Naylor, G.J.P (Eds.). 2016. Rays of the World. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.