| Arctic skate | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Superorder: | Batoidea |
| Order: | Rajiformes |
| Family: | Rajidae |
| Genus: | Amblyraja |
| Species: |
A. hyperborea
|
| Binomial name | |
| Amblyraja hyperborea (Collett, 1879) | |
The Arctic skate (Amblyraja hyperborea) is a species of fish in the family Rajidae. It lives near the seabed between 140 and 2,500 m deep in the Arctic Ocean and waters around Canada and northern and north-western Europe, in the northern Pacific Ocean, and in waters surrounding Antarctica and New Zealand.[2]
The Arctic skate is about 1 m long and is gray-brown with large dark spots. Its underside is white with dark patterns. It has thorns in line from back to near the end of its tail. It is oviparous; its eggs are capsules with hard horns on each corner. It eats all sorts of small animals at the bottom of the sea.[2]
This species was first described by Robert Collett in 1879 and named Raja hyperborea.[3]
The Arctic skate is classified as being of "least concern" by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.[1]
In New Zealand, the Department of Conservation has classified the Arctic skate as "Not Threatened" under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.[4]
| Amblyraja hyperborea |
|
|---|---|
| Raja hyperborea |
|
