Bathyraja maculata
Species of fish
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bathyraja maculata, the white-blotched skate, is a species of skate from the western North Pacific Ocean.[1] An adult is approximately 1 meter in length, and is found at depths of up to 1 kilometer.[2] Unlike any other known member of the genus Bathyraja, the white-blotched skate has white blotches on a grey to brown dorsal surface, while the ventral side is lighter in color with darker blotches. Dorsal side is rough with spines, while the ventral side is smooth.[3]
| Bathyraja maculata | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Order: | Rajiformes |
| Family: | Arhynchobatidae |
| Genus: | Bathyraja |
| Species: | B. maculata |
| Binomial name | |
| Bathyraja maculata Ishiyama & Ishihara, 1977 | |
Range
The white-blotched skate is well established to inhabit waters in the Northern Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk and Aleutian Islands. It was the most commonly caught skate in a NOAA bottom-trawl survey of the Aleutian Islands in 2006.[4] Initially thought to inhabit only the western margin of the Gulf of Alaska, trawl surveys have now found specimens along the eastern margin as well.[5]
