Common Name
Shortfin Sandskate
Year Described
McEachran, 1983
Identification
Disk heart-shaped with broad, rounded pectoral fins and a weakly concave anterior margin of disk (more concave in males). Snout short and soft with convex lateral edges. Conical snout tip slightly projects and sometimes has a filamentous tip. Skin with sparse denticles in juveniles but becomes smooth with age with some denticles around the margins. Ventrum quite smooth. Multiple orbital thorns in a crescent shape around each orbit. Large patch of thorns not present on shoulder and restricted to three thorns. There are 4-5 nuchal thorns on midline. A strong line of median thorns runs from level of pelvic fins to dorsal fin. Tail rather slender and slightly longer than disk length, with 3-5 rows of thorns. Caudal fin weakly developed. Dorsal fins are paired far back on tail, very close together, and very small. Pelvic fin with two portions separated with a deep notch. Claspers large. Mouth narrow. Nasal flaps broad with fringes. Teeth are conical and sharp (33-44 in upper jaw).
Color
Dorsum brown with no distinctive markings. Sometimes has clouded pale markings, random dark/light spots, and/or light reticulations. Edge of anterior pelvic lobe pale. Belly white.
Size
Maximum size to 58cm TL.
Habitat
Primarily coastal but also to upper slope waters from 30-360m. Benthic.
Range
Southwestern Atlantic: Uruguay to S. Argentina. Also Chile.
References
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.
Other Notes
Among the 5 large species of Psammobatis, his species is smoother and lacks the dense patch of shoulder thorns present in P. rutrum and P. lentiginosa and has more reduced median and lateral thorns than P. rudis and P. scobina.