Amblyraja hyperborea

Description

Size: to 99 cm TL

Reproduction: Oviparous.

General: Chocolate brown (occasionally lighter-colored) with darker mottling and spots; white spotting is often observed as well. Disc wider than length. Continuous line of thorns along the mid-line of body and tail. Scapular thorn pairs (2–3) present on shoulders, but not normally visible in imagery. Short tail, with two small, closely spaced dorsal fins. Posterior pelvic fins lobate, relatively long, and narrow. Wide claspers in mature males. Note: molecular work has established that A. badia and A. hyperborea are the same species (see Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes, IUCN, and Last et al. 2016).

Geographic Information

Published depth range: 846 - 2869 m

Habitat description: Benthic, mud, or hard substrate.

Ocean range (global): Bering Sea to Panama, including the Gulf of California.

Additional Information

Consulting taxonomist: David Ebert, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.

References

Encyclopedia of Life

Tree of Life

World Register of Marine Species

National Center for Biotechnology Information

Ebert, D. (2003). Sharks, rays, and chimeras of California. University of California Press, Berkeley, California. 284 pp.

Yeh, J. and J. Drazen (2011). Baited-camera observations of deep-sea megafaunal scavenger ecology on the California slope. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 424: 145–156.

Zorzi, G.D. and M.E. Anderson (1988). Records of the deep-sea skates, Raja (Amblyraja) badia Garman, 1899 and Bathyraja abyssicola (Gilbert, 1986) in the eastern North Pacific, with a new key to California skates. California Fish and Game, 74: 87-105.

Weigmann, S. (2016). Annotated checklist of the living sharks, batoids and chimaeras (Chondrichthyes) of the world, with a focus on biogeographical diversity. Journal of Fish Biology, 88: 837-1037. http://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.12874

Last, P., W. White, M. de Carvalho, B. Séret, M. Stehmann, and G. Naylor (2016). Rays of the world. Clayton, Victoria: CSIRO Publishing.

Kuhnz, L.A., J.J. Bizzarro, and D.A. Ebert (2019). In situ observations of deep-living skates in the eastern North Pacific. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 103104. doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2019.103104.