United States (contiguous states) country information

Common names: Little skate
Occurrence: native
Salinity: marine
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: | Ref:
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments: Continental shelf waters off the northeastern United States (Ref. 37512). Reported from Gulf of St. Lawrence to Cape Hatteras, abundant from George Bank to Delaware Bay (Ref. 27549).
National Checklist:
Country Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html
National Fisheries Authority: http://www.nmfs.gov
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray, 1986
National Database:

Common names from other countries

Raie hérisson, Raie-hérisson, Raie hérisson, ... more

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) > Rajiformes (Skates and rays) > Rajidae (Skates)
Etymology: Leucoraja: Greek, leykos = white + Latin, raja = a fish, Raja sp. (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Mitchill.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; demersal; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 10 - 914 m (Ref. 106604). Temperate; 49°N - 33°N, 78°W - 59°W (Ref. 55277)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Western Atlantic: southern Gulf of St. Lawrence and Nova Scotia in Canada to North Carolina, USA.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m 37.5, range 32 - 43 cm
Max length : 62.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 106604); max. reported age: 12 years (Ref. 88929)

Usually on sandy or gravelly bottoms from shoal waters to 90 m depth (Ref. 7251), with temperature range of 1.2-21°C. Benthic (Ref. 5951). Mostly inactive during daylight, but active under dark conditions (Ref. 10807). Feeds on bottom-dwelling organisms such as crabs, shrimps, polychaetes, sea squirts, mollusks, squids and bony fishes (Ref. 27549). Oviparous. Distinct pairing with embrace. Young may tend to follow large objects, such as their mother (Ref. 205). Eggs are oblong capsules with stiff pointed horns at the corners deposited in sandy or muddy flats (Ref. 205). Egg capsules are 4.6-6.3 cm long and 2.7-4.8 cm wide, about 10-35 eggs are laid annually (Ref. 41250). Possesses an electric organ located in the tail region (Ref. 10807). Electric organ discharge (EOD) activity is intermittent (Ref. 10011) and seemed more frequent during dark periods (Ref. 10808). The individual EOD of this species is monophasic, head-negative, and lasts 70 ms (Ref. 10011).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Oviparous, paired eggs are laid. Embryos feed solely on yolk (Ref. 50449). Distinct pairing with embrace. Young may tend to follow large objects, such as their mother (Ref. 205).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : McEachran, John | Collaborators

McEachran, J.D. and K.A. Dunn, 1998. Phylogenetic analysis of skates, a morphologically conservative clade of elasmobranchs (Chondrichthyes: Rajidae). Copeia 1998(2):271-290. (Ref. 27314)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 19 July 2019

CITES (Ref. 128078)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

FAO(Publication : search) | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

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Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 3.3 - 11.9, mean 6.8 (based on 97 cells).

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00282 (0.00248 - 0.00320), b=3.22 (3.18 - 3.26), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.6 ±0.1 se; based on diet studies.

Resilience (Ref. 120179): Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (K=0.29-0.35; tm=4.5; Fec=10; tmax=12).

Prior r = 0.09, 95% CL = 0.06 - 0.14, Based on 1 full stock assessment.

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Moderate to high vulnerability (50 of 100).

Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649): Very high vulnerability (90 of 100).

Leucoraja erinaceus (Mitchill, 1825)