The shagreen ray (''Leucoraja fullonica''), also known as shagreen skate or fuller's ray, is a species of

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 ...

in the family Rajidae. This ray is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, from Murmansk, Russia through Norway, southern Iceland, the Faroe Islands, the Celtic Sea, the northern North Sea and Skagerrak, to western Morocco and the

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archipelago, but not in the shallow waters off England and Wales. It is also recorded sporadically in the Mediterranean Sea.Guide of Mediterranean Skates and Rays (Leucoraja fullonica). Oct. 2022. Mendez L., Bacquet A. and F. Briand. http://www.ciesm.org/Guide/skatesandrays/leucoraja-fullonica

Shagreen Shagreen is a type of rawhide consisting of rough untanned skin, historically from a horse's or onager's back, or from shark or ray. Etymology The word derives from the French ''chagrin'' and is related to Italian ''zigrino'' and Venetian '' ...

is a form of roughened untanned leather, typically dyed green and commonly made of the skins of sharks and rays. The

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

"fuller's ray" comes from an instrument used by fullers to smooth cloth, referring to its rough and spiny back. The pectoral fin disc of the shagreen ray is somewhat wider than it is long. The forward margin concave and undulated, and about one-third longer than the rear margin. The

snout A snout is the protruding portion of an animal's face, consisting of its nose, mouth, and jaw. In many animals, the structure is called a muzzle, rostrum, or proboscis. The wet furless surface around the nostrils of the nose of many mammals is c ...

is cone-shaped and pointed. The tail is shorter than the disc, with two small, equally sized dorsal fins and a rudimentary caudal fin. The

eye Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and conv ...

s and

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

are large; the teeth are pointed and number about 64 in the upper jaw and 56 in the lower. The upper surface is rough in texture, with patches of large spines on the snout, around the eyes, and on the shoulder. There are two rows of about 50 spines each running from the center of the back to the first dorsal fin, and no interdorsal spine. The underside is smooth except for the front edge of the disc, base of the tail, and tail. The coloration is a uniform gray or brown with smaller darker dots above, and white below. The maximum size is to 120 cm long. This species occurs in relatively cold water on the upper continental slopes at a depth of 30–550 m. It is most common at depths of 200 m, but is found deeper in southern areas. It favors sandy and possibly also rocky habitats. The shagreen ray feeds on a variety of

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

animals, mainly fishes but also crustaceans. Like other skates reproduction 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

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

capsules are amber in color and oblong-shaped, with long, stiff horns at each corner. One pair of horns are longer than the capsule. The capsules measure 7.5-9.9 cm long and 4.5-4.7 cm wide. Historically this ray was considered of "inferior" quality for consumption. It is caught

commercially Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...

by longlines and trawls.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q383482 shagreen ray Fish of the North Sea Marine fish of Europe shagreen ray shagreen ray