Springeria folirostris Bigelow and Schroeder, 1951

Jones, Christian M., Driggers Iii, William B., Hannan, Kristin M., Hoffmayer, Eric R., Jones, Lisa M. & Raredon, Sandra J., 2020, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyan fishes inhabiting the northern Gulf of Mexico Part 1: Batoidea, Zootaxa 4803 (2), pp. 281-315 : 296

Springeria folirostris Bigelow and Schroeder, 1951 b—leafnose legskate

Synonyms: Anacanthobatis folirostris Bigelow and Schroeder, 1951b

Distribution. This species has been proposed to be endemic to the northern GOM by several authors (e.g. McEachran and Fechhelm 1998, Last et al. 2016). However, several specimens (UF 3984, IBUNAM-P9865, USNM 222431) have been collected from the southern GOM and a single individual (FMNH 90092) was collected from the continental slope off Honduras. In the northern GOM, this species occurs on the continental slope from the Texas/ Mexico border to off northwestern Florida at depths ranging from 300 to 510 m.

First Record in GOM. The description of this species ( Bigelow and Schroeder, 1951b) was based on two specimens (holotype USNM 152546 , Figure 13 , and paratype MCZ 37160) both collected in the same general area, on the continental slope off the mouth of the Mississippi River, in 1950.

Remarks. This is a deep water species that is rarely captured and, therefore, little is known of their biology.

Conservation Status. Data Deficient (as Anacanthobatis folirostris )

Figures

FIGURE 13. Dorsal (A) and ventral (B) perspectives of the holotype of Springeria folirostris (USNM 152546) collected from the northern Gulf of Mexico. Photographs by Sandra J. Raredon, USNM.