Richardson's ray

Richardson's ray
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Chondrichthyes
Subclass:	Elasmobranchii
Order:	Rajiformes
Family:	Arhynchobatidae
Genus:	Bathyraja
Species:	B. richardsoni
Binomial name
Bathyraja richardsoni (Garrick, 1961)

Richardson's ray (Bathyraja richardsoni) is a skate of the family Arhynchobatidae, found in the Atlantic Ocean and around Cook Strait in New Zealand, at depths of from 1,300 to 2,500 m.^[1] Their length can reach 1.75 m.^[2] Dorsal and ventral surfaces of the disc are uniformly covered with dermal denticles, but lack thorns on the disc. The tail has 18 moderately sized thorns.^[3]

Conservation status

The New Zealand Department of Conservation has classified the Richardson's ray as being "Not Threatened" but with the qualifier "Data Poor" under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.^[4]

References

1. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Bathyraja richardsoni". FishBase. January 2006 version.
2. Ayling, Tony; Cox, Geoffrey (1982). Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand. William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand. ISBN 0-00-216987-8.
3. McEachrun, J.D.; Miyake, T. (1984). "Comments on the skates of the tropical Eastern Pacific: One new species and three new records". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 97: 773–787.
4. Duffy, Clinton A. J.; Francis, Malcolm; Dunn, M. R.; Finucci, Brit; Ford, Richard; Hitchmough, Rod; Rolfe, Jeremy (2016). Conservation status of New Zealand chondrichthyans (chimaeras, sharks and rays), 2016 (PDF). Wellington, New Zealand: Department of Conservation. p. 9. ISBN 9781988514628. OCLC 1042901090.