Bathyraja maculata

Bathyraja maculata, the white-blotched skate, is a species of skate from the western North Pacific Ocean.^[1] An adult is approximately 1 meter in length, and is found at depths of up to 1 kilometer.^[2] Unlike any other known member of the genus Bathyraja, the white-blotched skate has white blotches on a grey to brown dorsal surface, while the ventral side is lighter in color with darker blotches. Dorsal side is rough with spines, while the ventral side is smooth.^[3]

Bathyraja maculata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Chondrichthyes
Subclass:	Elasmobranchii
Order:	Rajiformes
Family:	Arhynchobatidae
Genus:	Bathyraja
Species:	B. maculata
Binomial name
Bathyraja maculata Ishiyama & Ishihara, 1977

Range

The white-blotched skate is well established to inhabit waters in the Northern Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk and Aleutian Islands. It was the most commonly caught skate in a NOAA bottom-trawl survey of the Aleutian Islands in 2006.^[4] Initially thought to inhabit only the western margin of the Gulf of Alaska, trawl surveys have now found specimens along the eastern margin as well.^[5]