The Rosette skate (''Leucoraja garmani'') is an abundant mid-depth

skate Skate or Skates may refer to: Fish *Skate (fish), several genera of fish belonging to the family Rajidae * Pygmy skates, several genera of fish belonging to the family Gurgesiellidae * Smooth skates or leg skates, several genera of fish belongin ...

Etymology

The skate is named in honor of American ichthyologist-herpetologist

Samuel Garman Samuel Walton Garman (June 5, 1843 – September 30, 1927), or "Garmann" as he sometimes styled himself, was a naturalist/zoologist from Pennsylvania. He became noted as an ichthyologist and herpetologist. Biography Garman was born in Indian ...

(1843‒1927), of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Distribution and habitat

The Rosette Skate is typically found at depths between . At the extremes on the United States Atlantic Coast specimens have been found as far north as the

Nantucket Shoals Nantucket Shoals is an area of dangerously shallow water in the Atlantic Ocean that extends from Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, eastward for and southeastward for ; in places water depth can be as shallow as . Depth soundings are unpredictable d ...

and as far south as the

Dry Tortugas Dry Tortugas National Park is a national park located about west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico. The park preserves Fort Jefferson and the seven Dry Tortugas islands, the westernmost and most isolated of the Florida Keys. The archipelago's c ...

. Beyond, it has been located throughout the Caribbean, the eastern shores of Mexico and Central American, and the northern shores of South America.

Relationship to humans

Based on reported bycatch rates and population observances, there is no evidence to support concern of the Rosette Skate.

References

Rosette skate Fish of the Eastern United States Taxa named by Gilbert Percy Whitley Rosette skate {{Rajiformes-stub