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Little skate

Leucoraja erinacea

Information and species illustrations courtesy of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Species Information
Size Maximum adult size 53 cm disk width (1.7 ft)
Diagnostic characters Lateral most margins of disk more rounded than angular; snout more blunt than pointed; middorsal thorns absent in adults, except immediately posterior to interorbital region; dorsal surface of disk with small dusky spots; upper jaw with 70 or fewer series of teeth (typically 55 or fewer). Disk only slightly wider than long; dorsal fins equal in size and located near tip of tail; caudal fin represented by dermal fold extending over tip of tail; triangular patch of thorns present posterior to eye; 2 or 3 rows of thorns present on either side of dorsal midline and extending onto tail. Grayish to dusky brown dorsally; ventral grayish white.
Habitat, biology, and fisheries Common in shallow waters along the coast, it has also been collected at depths greater than 150m. It feeds on bottom-dwelling organisms such as crabs, shrimps, polychaetes, sea squirts, mollusks, squids and bony fishes. Caught incidentally with bottom trawls and rod and reel.
Distribution Gulf of St. Lawrence to Cape Hatteras but most abundant from Georges Bank to Delaware Bay.
Citations Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 1: Introduction, molluscs, crustaceans, hagfishes, sharks, batoid fishes, and chimaeras. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 1-600. Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 2: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 601-1374. Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 3: Bony fishes part 2 (Opistognathidae to Molidae), sea turtles and marine mammals. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 1375-2127.