Notoraja tobitukai (Hiyama, 1940)

Hsu, Hua Hsun, Joung, Shoou Jeng, Ebert, David A. & Lin, Chia Yen, 2013, Records of new and rare elasmobranchs from Taiwan, Zootaxa 3752 (1), pp. 249-255 : 252

Notoraja tobitukai (Hiyama, 1940)

Leadhued skate

( Figure 5 )

Raja tobitukai Hiyama, 1940 ( Japan. J. Zool.: 169, fig. 1.; type locality: Kumano-Nada, Japan). Breviraja tobitukai: Huang, 2001: 404 -463.

Material examined. (2 specimens). EBFS020212040401-1, 43.6 cm TL, mature female, Da-xi, December 2004; CAS 235281, 43 cm TL, mature female, Da-xi, May 2005.

Diagnosis. Snout flexible; rostral cartilage either absent, incomplete, rod-like or very narrow with its width not exceeding its depth; no thorn on scapular and nuchal regions; tail thorns absent or very weak; dermal denticles uniformly distributed on dorsal side of disc. Disc grayish on both sides.

Distribution. South China Sea, Taiwan, East China Sea to southern waters off Japan. This species has previously been reported from the South China Sea, off southern Taiwan (Shao et al., 2008), but these new records represent the first from off northern Taiwan.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Specimen of leadhued skate Notoraja tobitukai, female, 43.6 cm TL, EBFS 020212040401 - 1, Da-xi, December 2004.