Skate (fish)

Skates
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous – Recent [1]
Arctic skate, Amblyraja hyperborea
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Order: Rajiformes
Family: Rajidae
Bonaparte, 1831

Skates are cartilaginous fish belonging to the family Rajidae in the superorder Batoidea of rays. More than 150 species have been described, in 17 genera.[2] Softnose skates and pygmy skates were previously treated as subfamilies of Rajidae (Arhynchobatinae and Gurgesiellinae), but are now considered as distinct families.[2] Alternatively, the name "skate" is used to refer to the entire order of Rajiformes (families Anacanthobatidae, Arhynchobatidae, Gurgesiellidae and Rajidae).[2]

Members of Rajidae are distinguished by a stiff snout and a rostrum that is not reduced.[3][4]

  1. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Rajidae". FishBase. January 2009 version.
  2. ^ a b c Last, P.R.; Séret, B.; Stehmann, M.F.W.; Weigmann, S. (2016). "Skates: Family Rajidae". In Last, Peter; Naylor, Gavin; Séret, Bernard; White, William; de Carvalho, Marcelo; Stehmann, Matthias (eds.). Rays of the World. Csiro Publishing. pp. 204–363. ISBN 978-0-643-10914-8.
  3. ^ EBERT, D.A. (2003) The Sharks, Rays and Chimaeras of California. University California Press, Berkeley, CA. 284 pp.[page needed]
  4. ^ Compagno, Leonard J (1999). "Systematics and Body Form". In Hamlett, William C. (ed.). Sharks, Skates, and Rays: The Biology of Elasmobranch Fishes. JHU Press. pp. 1–42. ISBN 978-0-8018-6048-5.