Common Name
Prickly Brown Skate
Year Described
Bigelow & Schroeder, 1951
Identification
Disk strongly spade-shape with a straight to slightly concave anterior margin. Snout long (22% TL). Pectoral fins bluntly pointed. Anterior pelvic fin lobe is longer than posterior lobe. Tail is 48-53% of TL (does not narrow from base to dorsal fin) and has skin folds on both sides. There are two dorsal fins, separated only slightly or confluent with each other. The caudal fin consists of a moderately developed upper lobe. Upper jaw with 36-38 tooth rows.
Body is smooth above, with denticles restricted to snout. There are 1-2 pre-orbital and 1 post-orbital thorns. No scapular thorns. No thorns on midline of body anterior to pelvic base. Tail with a single median row of thorns. 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 dorsal and caudal fins are black. The ventral surface is pale with darker margins to the disk. Anterior ampullar pores are darkened.
Size
Maximum size to 84cm TL.
Habitat
Demersal from 320-732m.
Range
Known from scattered records from the southeastern U.S. (Schwartz, 2012), the northern Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, N. Cuba, the Lesser Antilles, from Honduras to Colombia, Suriname (Jacob & McEachran, 1994), and off SE Brazil (Gomes & Picado, 2001)
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.
Gomes, U.L. and S. Picado, 2001. Distribution of the species of Dipturus Rafinesque (Rajidae, Rajinae, Rajini) of Brazil and first record of the Caribbean skate D. teevani (Bigelow & Schroeder), in the western South Atlantic. Revista Brasileira de Biologia, 18(1): 171-185.
Jacob, B.A. and J.D. McEachran, 1994. Status of two species of skates, Raja (Dipturus) teevani and R. (D.) floridana (Chondrichthyes: Rajoidei), from the western north Atlantic. Copeia 1994(2): 433-445.
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.
Schwartz, F.J. 2012. Occurrence of Dipturus teevani, a deepwater skate in North Carolina. Journal of North Carolina Academy of Science: Spring 2012, Vol. 128, No. 1, pp. 23-24.