Common Name
Sailray
Year Described
Fries, 1838
Identification
Disk diamond-shaped with a straight to slightly concave anterior margin. Snout long. Pectoral fins bluntly rounded. Anterior pelvic fin lobe is shorter than posterior lobe. Tail around 50% of TL and has skin folds on both sides. There are two dorsal fins; touching each other. The caudal fin consists of a moderately developed upper and lower lobe.
Body is smooth above, with denticles restricted to along anterior margin of disk. There are several orbital thorns. Three scapular thorns. Nuchal thorns present. There are 42-51 thorns along dorsal midline from nuchal region to dorsal fin. Tail with a single median row of 35-36 thorns and two lateral thorn rows on each side of tail. No thorns between the dorsal fins. Ventral surface without dermal denticles except for around snout and anterior disk margin.
Color
Cream to pale brown, often with indistinct brownish blotches and spots dorsally. Irregular brownish bands on tail. Thorns bright white. Ventral surface pale with gray blotches on the pectoral and pelvic margins and around the cloaca. A median gray band on lower tail.
Size
Maximum size to 123cm TL.
Habitat
Demersal from 150-1170m.
Range
Arctic Atlantic: off western Greenland.
References
Froese, R. & D. Pauly. Editors. 2012. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version (10/2012).
Sulak, K.J., MacWhirter P.D., Luke K.E., Norem A.D., Miller J.M., Cooper J.A., and Harris L.E. 2009. Identification guide to skates (Family Rajidae) of the Canadian Atlantic and adjacent regions. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2850: viii + 34 p.
Other Notes
Originally classified in the genus Dipturus.