The deepwater ray (''Rajella bathyphila''), also called the deepwater skate or abyssal skate, is a species of skate in the family Rajidae.

Distribution

The deepwater ray is

bathydemersal Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 They occ ...

; it has been recorded at , mostly below . It has been found in seas worldwide, concentrated in the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...

, living on continental slopes and

abyssal plains An abyssal plain is an underwater plain on the deep ocean floor, usually found at depths between and . Lying generally between the foot of a continental rise and a mid-ocean ridge, abyssal plains cover more than 50% of the Earth's surface. T ...

Description

Like all rays, the deepwater ray has a flattened body with broad, wing-like pectoral fins. The dorsal surface of adults is white. The outer edges of pectoral and pelvic fins shade to darker. The upper surface is spinulose, but there are bare patches in the centre of the pectoral fins and on sides of body in adult males. Its maximum length is .

Behaviour

Juveniles feed on small benthic invertebrates, while larger deepwater rays feed on larger invertebrates and fish. It is parasitised by '' Echeneibothrium bathyphilum'', a

cestode Cestoda is a class of parasitic worms in the flatworm phylum (Platyhelminthes). Most of the species—and the best-known—are those in the subclass Eucestoda; they are ribbon-like worms as adults, known as tapeworms. Their bodies consist of man ...

tapeworm of the order

Rhinebothriidea Rhinebothriidea is an order of Cestoda (tapeworms). Members of this order are gut parasites of stingray Stingrays are a group of sea rays, which are cartilaginous fish related to sharks. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei o ...

Life cycle

The deepwater ray is

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...

. The eggs have horn-like projections on the shell. Paired eggs are laid, with

embryo An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male spe ...

s feed solely on yolk.

References

External links