Page 335 - (DK) Ocean - The Definitive Visual Guide

SHARKS, RAYS, AND CHIMAERAS 333

ORDER RAJIFORMES regions. Its snout is long and pointed,
and the front margin of the wings is
Common Skate strongly concave, giving this skate an
overall angular shape. Its tail has a row
Dipturus batis of spines along its length but, unlike
1
LENGTH Up to 9 / 2 ft the large stinging spine of stingrays,
(3 m) these are not venomous.
WEIGHT Up to 220 lb This species is sometimes called
(100 kg) the blue skate because its underside
DEPTH 330–3,300 ft is bluish gray. It can swim strongly and
(100–1,000 m) feeds on fish in mid-water as well as
DISTRIBUTION Eastern Atlantic from northern Europe hunting over the seabed for crabs,
to southern Africa, Mediterranean lobsters, bottom-dwelling fish, and
other rays. Its oblong egg cases are up
The common skate is the largest and to 10 in (25 cm) long. They are laid
heaviest of the European rays. Due to in fall or winter and hatch two to five
overexploitation, it is now a rare months later. While mature specimens
species throughout most of its range prefer deeper water, the young will
and has become extinct in some spend time in shallow waters.

ORDER RAJIFORMES Guitarfish are elongated rays with a
triangular snout and narrow pectoral
Atlantic fins. Like sharks, these rays use their
spineless tails for swimming, while
Guitarfish other rays swim by flapping only
their pectoral fins. The Atlantic
guitarfish has two small dorsal fins set
Rhinobatos lentiginosus
LENGTH far back near the tip of its tail. Grayish
Up to 30 in (75 cm)
brown with small white spots, it
WEIGHT blends in with the sandy seabed, but
Not recorded
this ray can be seen in shallow water
DEPTH searching for mollusks and crabs,
0–100 ft (0–30 m)
probing the sand with its snout.
DISTRIBUTION Coastal waters of Gulf of Mexico, Females have placental viviparity,
Caribbean, and western Atlantic
giving birth to about six live young.
ORDER RAJIFORMES Also known as the undulate ray, ORDER RAJIFORMES
the painted ray is one of the most
Painted Ray distinctive northern European rays. Reticulate Whipray
This species is patterned with long,
Raja undulata wavy, dark lines edged with white Himantura uarnak
LENGTH spots that run parallel to the wing LENGTH About 15 ft
Up to 4 ft (1.2 m) margins. Its ornate appearance makes (4.5 m) including tail
WEIGHT it an attractive species for aquariums, WEIGHT About 265 lb
Up to 15 lb (7 kg) but in its natural habitat, this pattern (120 kg)
DEPTH has the practical advantage of helping DEPTH 65–165 ft
150–650 ft (45–200 m) the ray to blend in with the gravel (20–50 m)
DISTRIBUTION Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean and sand on the seabed, where it DISTRIBUTION Coastal waters of Arabian Gulf, Red ORDER PRISTOFORMES
feeds on flatfish, crabs, and other Sea, Indian Ocean, and western Pacific
bottom-living invertebrates. Smalltooth Sawfish
The biology of this beautiful ray This beautifully patterned stingray
has not been fully studied, but during belongs to a group called whiprays, Pristis pectinata
the breeding season, males use paired which have long, thin, flexible tails. LENGTH
claspers to transfer sperm during Its upper surface is densely covered Up to 25 ft (7.6 m)
mating, and females are known with wavy brown lines or reticulations. WEIGHT
to lay up to 15 eggs in muddy Its disk, or body, is about 5 ft (1.5 m) Up to 770 lb (350 kg)
or sandy flats. Each egg long and the tail can be nearly three DEPTH
is encased in a reddish- times this length. Its stinger is a single, 0–33 ft (0–10 m)
brown, oblong egg large spine located a short distance DISTRIBUTION Subtropical waters in all oceans
capsule up to 3½ in from the tail base; some individuals
(9 cm) long, with have two spines. The body is almost Sawfish are elongated rays with a
a curved horn at each diamond-shaped and the snout is long, flat, sawlike snout, or rostrum,
corner. Additional broadly triangular with a pointed tip. which they use to slash through shoals
information on the Found in warm waters, mainly near of fish and dig for shellfish and
distribution and status of the coast, reticulate whiprays are invertebrates. Like all rays, they have
this and other rays around sometimes seen by divers, lying quietly gill slits on the underside of the body
Britain is currently being in sandy patches between rocks. rather than the sides. Females give birth
collected through an egg-case to live young, which are about 2 ft
identification project. Members (60 cm) long in the smalltooth species.
of the public are encouraged to The saws of the pups are sheathed and
collect empty egg cases that have been flexible at birth, in order to prevent
washed ashore, rehydrate them, and injury to the mother. The
identify them. The number and smalltooth sawfish lives in coastal
pelvic
fin location of egg cases found are waters but also swims up river OCEAN LIFE
collated each year. estuaries. Numbers of this species
are severely depleted and it is
dorsal fin listed as Critically Endangered on the
IUCN Red List of endangered species.