Leucoraja lentiginosa
Freckled Skate
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous Fishes)
Rajiformes (Skates)
Rajidae (Skates)
Leucoraja
Leucoraja lentiginosa (Freckled Skate)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Heart-shaped disc with moderately short, obtuse snout and moderately broad tail with two dorsal fins and a poorly developed caudal fin. Large thorns in triangular patch on nuchal and scapular regions and along midbelt in two to five rows from nuchal region to origin of first dorsal fin. Preorbital length 8.5-9.7% TL. Pectoral radials extend to about three-fourths snout length. Mouth moderately to rather strongly arched. Upper jaw with 44-51 tooth rows. Oronasal pit absent. Anterior pelvic lobe connected to posterior lobe by fin membrane and distinctly shorter than posterior lobe. Lateral margin of pelvic fin deeply incised. Tail length 58.8-60.8% TL with lateral folds extending most of tail length. Dorsal fins similar in size and shape, separated by less than one-half length of first dorsal fin base. Caudal fin poorly developed with moderately long dorsal lobe and short ventral lobe. Dorsal surface more or less uniformly covered with denticles in juveniles but largely devoid of denticles in adults.
Buff to brown dorsally, freckled with small light and dark spots, and white to pale yellow ventrally.
Distribution
Western North Atlantic in the Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Depth range: 53-588 m
Biology
Maximum known size: 418 mm TL
Maturity reached between 350 and 418 mm TL
Oviparous (Ref. 50449). Eggs have horn-like projections on the shell (Ref. 205).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2019-06-20. Resilience: Low (Fec assumed to be <100).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters described
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: minor commercial.
References
Bigelow and Schroeder 1951b
Bigelow and Schroeder 1953a
Bigelow and Schroeder 1954b
Bigelow and Schroeder 1962
Bigelow and Schroeder 1965
Bigelow and Schroeder 1968b
McEachran and Musick 1975
Hoese and Moore 1977
McEachran 1977
McEachran and Compagno 1982
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
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.
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
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.
Weigmann, S. (2016) Annotated checklist of the living sharks, batoids and chimaeras (Chondrichthyes) of the world, with a focus on biogeographical diversity. J. Fish Biol. 88(1):1-201. DOI: 10.1111/jfb.12874
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