''Bathyraja maculata'', the white-blotched skate, 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 ...

from the western North Pacific Ocean. An adult is approximately 1 meter in length, and is found at depths of up to 1 kilometer. Unlike any other known member of the genus ''

Bathyraja ''Bathyraja'' is a large genus of skates in the family Arhynchobatidae. Species There are 55 recognized species in this genus:Orr, J.W., Stevenson, D.E., Hoff, G.R., Spies, I. & McEachran, J.D. (2011)Bathyraja panthera, ''a new species of skate ...

'', the white-blotched skate has white blotches on a grey to brown dorsal surface, while the ventral side is lighter in color with darker blotches. Dorsal side is rough with spines, while the ventral side is smooth.

Range

The white-blotched skate is well established to inhabit waters in the Northern Sea of Japan,

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk ( rus, Охо́тское мо́ре, Ohótskoye móre ; ja, オホーツク海, Ohōtsuku-kai) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands ...

and Aleutian Islands. It was the most commonly caught skate in a

NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

bottom-trawl survey of the Aleutian Islands in 2006. Initially thought to inhabit only the western margin of the Gulf of Alaska, trawl surveys have now found specimens along the eastern margin as well.

References

maculata Taxa named by Reizo Ishiyama Taxa named by Hajime Ishihara Fish described in 1977 {{Rajiformes-stub