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Bathyraja leucomelanos, a new species of softnose skate (Chondrichthyes: Arhynchobatidae) from New Caledonia

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Abstract

A new species of softnose skate (Arhynchobatidae) is described, based on a single adult male measuring 895 mm TL that was collected at a depth of 953–1,022 m on the Coriolis Bank off western New Caledonia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The specimen conforms to the genus Bathyraja in having the rostral cartilage continuous with the neurocranium and very slender and uncalcified over its length. Bathyraja leucomelanos sp. nov. differs from its congeners through a combination of the following characters: distinctive coloration of the disc with white dorsal and black ventral surfaces, dorsal surface of the disc entirely covered with dermal denticles, ventral surface naked, anterior portion of the anterior margin of the disc straight, snout long and very broad with orbit about 6.0 times in preorbital length, orbit 0.73 times interorbital width, mouth 6.8% TL, tail 0.88 times precloacal length, accessory terminal 2 cartilage of the clasper having an expanded disc-shaped tip, and alar thorn tip undulating. Molecular barcoding from the COI sequence reveals that this new species is genetically close to B. spinicauda from the North Atlantic Ocean.

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Acknowledgments

We thank J.-F. Barazer and fishermen of the trawler Opéra for their help with specimen collection; B. Richer de Forges for support at the IRD center of Nouméa; The “Affaires Maritimes, Service de la Marine Marchande et des Pêches Maritimes de Nouvelle-Calédonie” and the ship’s manager “Armement Calédonien à la Pêche” for allowing the authors to board the trawler Opéra; the “Centre hospitalier de Cornouaille–Concarneau” for X-rays, G. Mascarell for SEM photographs, D. Sellos for molecular analyses, J. Pogonoski for sending references, and I. Tkach for translating the Russian reference.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environment and Aquatic Populations USM 0405, Station of Marine Biology of Concarneau, National Museum of Natural History, 29182, Concarneau Cedex, France

    Samuel Paco Iglésias & Lauriana Lévy-Hartmann

  2. Biology of Aquatic Organisms and Ecosystems, UMR 7208 CNRS/MNHN/IRD/UPMC, Paris, France

    Samuel Paco Iglésias

  3. Insular Laboratory of Living Resources and Environment, University of New Caledonia, BP R4, 98851, Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia

    Lauriana Lévy-Hartmann

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  1. Samuel Paco Iglésias
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  2. Lauriana Lévy-Hartmann
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Correspondence to Samuel Paco Iglésias.

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Iglésias, S.P., Lévy-Hartmann, L. Bathyraja leucomelanos, a new species of softnose skate (Chondrichthyes: Arhynchobatidae) from New Caledonia. Ichthyol Res 59, 38–48 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-011-0254-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-011-0254-y

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