Common Name
Hooktail Skate
Year Described
Bigelow & Schroeder, 1958
Identification
Disk spade-shape with a concave anterior margin. Snout long (17-18% TL). Pectoral fins bluntly pointed. Anterior pelvic fin lobe about 75% as long as the posterior lobe. Tail is 50% of TL and has skin folds on both sides. There are two dorsal fins, separated from each other by a distance around 36% the length of first dorsal base. The caudal fin consists of a moderately developed dorsal lobe. Upper jaw with 36 tooth rows.
Body is smooth above, except for denticles on the head, snout, and anterior margin. There are several scattered thorns around the orbit and the anterior disk margin. No scapular thorns. No thorns on midline of body anterior to pelvic base. Tail with a median thorn row, flanked with an additional row of thorns laterally on each side of tail. A single thorn present between the dorsal fins. Ventral surface without dermal denticles except for around snout and anterior disk margin.
Color
Uniformly brown dorsally, without markings. The ventral surface is pale gray to brownish. Ampullar pores on the ventral head region are darkened.
Size
Maximum size to 144cm TL.
Habitat
Demersal from 475-1,079m.
Range
Known only from the northern Gulf of Mexico.
References
Compagno, L.J.V. 2002. Sharks. In: Carpenter, K.E. (Editor) FAO Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. The Living Marine Resources of The Western Central Atlantic. Volume 1: Introduction, mollusks, crustaceans, hagfishes, sharks, batoid fishes, and chimaeras. ASIH Special Publication No. 5. FAO, Rome.
McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. 1998. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. Volume 1: Myxiniformes to Gasterosteiformes. University of Texas Press, Austin. i-viii + 1-1112.