Common Name
Pluto Pygmy Skate
Year Described
Garman, 1881
Identification
Disk heart shaped with a almost straight anterior margin of snout and pectoral fin (concave pectoral margin in males). Snout blunt with short projecting lobe. Pectoral fins with round tips. Anterior pelvic fin lobe elongate; separated from posterior lobe by strong notch. Posterior lobe rectangular and about equal in length to anterior. Tail is long and thin. Posterior part of tail with skin folds. There are two small dorsal fins placed far back on tail with fins close together (gap less than half dorsal base). Caudal fin with developed upper lobe. Eyes and mouth large. Jaws with around 32-34 tooth rows. Male claspers long.
Body is covered with dermal denticles dorsally except for snout tip and posterior disk edge. Ventrum smooth. The rostrum has no thorns. There are 2-12 orbital thorns, 1 spiracular thorn, and around 3-4 nuchal thorns on the head. There are 2-3 scapular thorns. Abdomen and tail with a median row of 45-70 small thorns. Lateral thorn rows present on tail.
Color
Dorsum pale yellowish to pale brown with numerous diffuse dark blotches covering disk. No markings are very conspicuous. Tail with 5-7 dark brown bands, two of which correspond to dorsal fins. Ventrum pale.
Size
A very small skate: maximum size to 27cm TL.
Habitat
Found on continental slopes from 300-1025m.
Range
Known from North Carolina to Florida, the northern Gulf of Mexico, off the Bahamas, Cuba, Panama, and the northern coast of South America.
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.