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A Virtual Museum on the State's Fish Biodiversity

Fenestraja sinusmexicanus

Gulf Skate
Collection Details

Specimens

Photos

There are no photos available for this taxon yet.

Records

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous Fishes) Rajiformes (Skates) Rajidae (Skates) Fenestraja Fenestraja sinusmexicanus (Gulf Skate)

Description

This species account was compiled from FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.) and processed using AI-assisted text extraction. It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting. When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page. Learn more about our species accounts.

Characters

Body shape: other. Rostral cartilage short. Tail long and thorny. Short interspace between its two dorsal fin. Pale coloration of dorsal fins. Upper surface brownish purple. Lower surface plain yellowish white (Ref. 6902).

Distribution

Western Central Atlantic: Gulf of Mexico.

Habitat Associations

Marine. demersal.

Biology

Deep water species (Ref. 6902). Oviparous (Ref. 50449). Eggs have horn-like projections on the shell (Ref. 205).
Max length: 37.5 cm TL.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: internal (oviduct); nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. Oviparous, paired eggs are laid. Embryos feed solely on yolk (Ref. 50449).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2019-06-18. Resilience: Low (Fec assumed to be <100).

References

Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.
Bigelow, H.B. and W.C. Schroeder (1953) Sawfishes, guitarfishes, skates and rays. p. 1-514. In J. Tee-Van et al. (eds.) Fishes of the western North Atlantic. Part two. New Haven, Sears Found. Mar. Res., Yale Univ.
McEachran, J.D. and K.A. Dunn (1998) Phylogenetic analysis of skates, a morphologically conservative clade of elasmobranchs (Chondrichthyes: Rajidae). Copeia 1998(2):271-290.
Castro-Aguirre, J.L. and H. Espinosa Perez (1996) Listados faunísticos de México. VII. Catálogo sistemático de las rayas y especies afines de México. (Chondrichthyes: Elasmobranchii: Rajiformes: Batoideiomorpha). Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico. 75 p.

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