Bathyraja smithii (Müller & Henle, 1841 )

Ebert, David A., Wintner, Sabine P. & Kyne, Peter M., 2021, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of South Africa, Zootaxa 4947 (1), pp. 1-127 : 77-78

Bathyraja smithii (Müller & Henle, 1841)

African Softnose Skate

Raja smithii M̹ller & Henle, 1841: 150 , pl. 49. Syntypes: (2) BMNH 1953.8 .10.1 (skin), MNHN 0000-1594 (1). Type locality: South Africa.

Local synonymy: Raja smithii : M̹ller & Henle, 1841: 150, pl. 49; Gray, 1851: 112; Bleeker, 1860b: 58; Duméril, 1865: 553; G̹nther, 1870: 467; Gilchrist, 1902: 168; Thompson, 1914: 159; Norman, 1935: 41; Fowler, 1941: 364 ( South Africa, not R. eatoni from Kerguelen Island = Bathyraja eatoni ). Raja eatoni : G̹nther, 1876: 390; G̹nther, 1879: 166; G̹nther, 1880: 15. Raia eatonii : Garman, 1913: 365. Raia smithii : Garman, 1913: 366; von Bonde & Swart, 1923: 5; Barnard, 1925: 66, pl. 4; Smith, 1949a: 66 ( South Africa, not fig. 68, = Cruriraja parcomaculata ; not pl. 3,? = Raja cf. clavata ); Smith, 1965: 66 ( South Africa, not fig. 68 or pl. 3). Bathyraja smithii : Hulley, 1970: 213, figs. 20–21, pl. 13; Hulley, 1972a: 86, figs. 58–59; Hulley, 1986: 116, fig. 25.1; Compagno et al., 1989: 86, pl.; Compagno et al., 1991: 91; Ebert et al., 1991: 75; Stehmann, 1995: 23; Compagno, 1999: 116; Compagno & Ebert, 2007: 133, fig. 4a; Ebert & Compagno, 2007: 117; Ebert et al., 2008: 84; NPOA, 2013: 52; Ebert, 2014: 41, fig. 41; da Silva et al., 2015: 246; Ebert, 2015: 167, fig. 177; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 146; Last et al., 2016e: 418, fig. 20.50; McEachran & Séret, 2016: 1395, fig.; Weigmann, 2016: 933.

South Africa voucher material: SAIAB 25186, SAIAB 25187, SAIAB 25188, SAIAB 25189, SAIAB 26000, SAIAB 26232, SAIAB 27143, SAIAB 27144, SAIAB 27145, SAIAB 27146, SAIAB 27147, SAIAB 27148, SAIAB 40983, SAIAB 40984, SAIAB 40985, SAIAB 61308, SAIAB 64276.

South African distribution: The Orange River (NC) to Cape Agulhas (WC), with a single record from near Algoa Bay (EC) .

Remarks: The area between Saldanha Bay and Cape Point appears to be a population center since the species has been caught in higher numbers during survey cruises here than other locations off South Africa and Namibia ( Compagno et al., 1991). One of the syntypes gives the nominal locality as the Bosphorus between the Black Sea and Sea of Marmara, Turkey, but this appears to be erroneous ( Compagno & Ebert, 2007). Records of this species from Kerguelen Island are now known to be Bathyraja eatoni , which has in the past been synonymized with B. smithii , but it is a distinct species ( Compagno et al., 1991; Compagno & Ebert, 2007).

Conservation status: LC (2019).