Sydney skate

Short description: Species of cartilaginous fish

Sydney skate

Conservation status

Near Threatened (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Scientific classification
Kingdom:  | Animalia
Phylum:  | Chordata
Class:  | Chondrichthyes
Subclass:  | Elasmobranchii
Superorder:  | Batoidea
Order:  | Rajiformes
Family:  | Rajidae
Genus:  | Dentiraja
Species:  |

D. australis

Binomial name
Dentiraja australis

(Macleay, 1884)

Synonyms[2]

Raia australis, Macleay, 1884
Okamejei australis, (Macleay, 1884)
Dipturus australis, (Macleay, 1884)

The Sydney skate (Dentiraja australis) is a species of skate of the family Rajidae native to waters off the east coast of Australia.[3][4]

## Contents

* 1 Taxonomy
* 2 Description
* 3 Distribution and habitat
* 4 References

## Taxonomy

Scottish-Australian naturalist William John Macleay described the species as Raja australis in 1884, from specimens collected from a trawl off the south head of Botany Bay. He was excited by the find of a skate species in Sydney waters and wondered about its potential as a food item. He observed, "As an article of food, skate has never been much in favour here, in fact, except in French cafés and places of that kind."[5] It was placed in the genus Dipturus in 2002, with other members of the then subgenus Dentiraja before the group was raised to genus level as a whole in 2016, when it gained its current binomial name Dentiraja australis.[6]

As well as Sydney skate, the species is also known as common skate, Pommy skate, or simply skate.[4]

## Description

Generally between 43 and 48 centimetres (17 and 19 in) long, the Sydney skate can reach 55 centimetres (22 in) in length.[3] The upperparts are brown, with lighter color on the snout and pectoral fins, while the underparts are white.[5]

## Distribution and habitat

The Sydney skate is found on the continental shelf off the east coast of Australia, at depths of 20 to 325 metres (66 to 1,066 ft).[3]

Once one of the most abundant skate species the continental shelf off Eastern Australia, the Sydney skate has drastically declined in numbers.[7] Skate species declined in trawl catches off the New South Wales central and south coast by 83% between 1976/1977 and 1996/1997.[8]

It is one of four species identified as threatened with extinction by trawling in a 2021 report.[9]

## References

1. ↑ "c". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/161637/68620350#assessment-information. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
2. ↑ Australian Biological Resources Study (28 June 2018). "Species Dentiraja australis (Macleay, 1884)". Australian Faunal Directory. Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Australian Government. https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/Dentiraja_australis.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2006). "Dentiraja australis" in FishBase. April 2006 version.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bray, Dianne J. (2020). "Sydney skate, Dentiraja australis Macleay, 1884". Fishes of Australia. Museum Victoria. https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/3890.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Macleay, William John (1884). "Some results of trawl fishing outside Port Jackson". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 8 (4): 457–462 [461–462]. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6864979.
6. ↑ Last, P.R.; Weigmann, S.; Yang, L. 2016. Changes to the nomenclature of the skates (Chondrichthyes: Rajiformes). Rays of the World: Supplementary Information. CSIRO Special Publication. pp. 11-34
7. ↑ Reis, Marcelo; Figueira, Will F. (2020). "Age, growth and reproductive biology of two endemic demersal bycatch elasmobranchs: Trygonorrhina fasciata and Dentiraja australis (Chondrichthyes: Rhinopristiformes, Rajiformes) from Eastern Australia". Zoologia 37: 1–12. doi:10.3897/zoologia.37.e49318.
8. ↑ Graham, K. J.; Andrew, N. L.; Hodgson, K. E. (2001). "Changes in relative abundance of sharks and rays on Australian South East Fishery trawl grounds after twenty years of fishing". Marine and Freshwater Research 52 (4): 549. doi:10.1071/MF99174.
9. ↑ Readfearn, Graham (15 March 2021). "Threatened Australian shark and skates at 'extreme risk' of being wiped out". Guardian Online. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/15/threatened-australian-shark-and-skates-at-extreme-risk-of-being-wiped-out.

Wikidata ☰ Q46638633 entry

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