Author: Stehmann, 1978

Raja (Rajella) bigelowi Stehmann, 1978

Diagnosis: snout short; disc relatively narrow, roundish to rhombic, with broadly rounded outer corners; tail always considerably longer than body. Upper surface entirely spinulose, centre of pectoral fins more or less bare in adult males. A patch of 3-15 prominent thorns always present on tip of snout; juveniles with a thorn in front of and behind eye, a pair of thorns between spiracles, 2 thorns on nape, one on mid-shoulder and 2-3 on each side of shoulder; larger specimens usually with a complete row of 5-7 thorns around inner margin of eye, a triangular patch of 10-18 thorns on nape/shoulder region, and a median row of 26-33 thorns (usually less than 30) from shoulder to first dorsal fin, flanked in larger young and adults by 2-4 irregular parallel rows of up to 30 thorns from hind part of body to first dorsal fin (clearly larger than median thorns from early on); dorsal fins confluent; underside smooth except for marginal bands of prickles along tail. Colour: upper surface uniform dusky grey, with back and tail much lighter in young, limy-white in half-grown specimens, ashygrey to greyish-white in adults; underside of disc and pelvic fins always plain dark brown, darker than upperside, tail always distinctly lighter. Size: to about 50 cm TL.

Habitat: benthic on continental slopes and deepwater rises, between 65C and 2,200 m, but mainly below 1,500 m; rare. Food: no data. Reproduction: oviparous, but egg-cases unknown; smallest recorded juvenile 117 mm TL.

Distribution: within the area in Rockall Trough and also the Azores. Elsewhere, western North Atlantic (most records so far) from Grand Banks off Newfoundland southward to north-eastern Gulf of Mexico. Distribution probably much wider in deepwater.

Complementary iconography. Bigelow & Schroeder, 1953a: fig. 30-31.
Eggs, embryonic and young stages. Bigelow & Schroeder, 1953a :163-165, fig. 31B | Stehmann, 1978: fig. 3.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Superclass Gnathostomata
Class Chondrichthyes
Superorder Hypotremata
Family Rajidae
Genus Raja
Species Raja bigelowi

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Synonym of Rajella bigelowi (Stehmann, 1978)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Raja (Rajella) bigelowi Stehmann, 1978

Synonyms:

Raja (Rajella) bigelowi Stehmann, 1978
Raja bigelowi Stehmann, 1978, Arch. Fisch. Wss. 29 (1/2): 26-35, 52-57, fig. 1-3 (37°05'N, 74°20.6'W, continental slope NW-Atlantic). Holotype: USNM n° 218284; 14 paratypes: USNM nos 35584, 35591, 38210, 148269, 148276, 218273 a+b, 218285, MOM without coll. no., ISH nos. 969/73, 970/73 a+b, 148/74, GMNH (Z) no. 1977-170-11.
Raja ackleyi (nec Garman, 1881): Roule, 1912: 20
Raja bathyphila (nec Holt & Byrne, 1908): Bigelow & Schroeder, 1953a: 159-165, fig. 30-31 Bigelow & Schroeder, 1954: 52-54 Stehmann, 1970 (portim) Stehmann, 1971a: 1, fig. 1-2 Stehmann, 1978: 66 (partim) McEachran & Stehmann, 1977: 20-25, fig. 1-5.

Common names:

Bigelow's ray [En]
Raie de Bigelow [Fr]
Raya de Bigelow [Es]

Bigelow, H. B.; Schroeder, W. C. 1953a. Fishes of the western North Atlantic. Sawfishes, Guitarfishes, Skates and Rays; Chimaeroids. Mem. Sears Found. Mar. Res., New Haven, 1(2): xv+588 p., 127 fig.

Bigelow, H. B.; Schroeder, W. C. 1954. Deep water elasmobranchs and chimaeroids from the North western Atlantic slope. Bull Mus. comp. Zool. Harv., 112 (2): 37-87, fig. 1-7.

McEachran, J.D.; Stehmann, M. 1977. Subgeneric Placement of Raja bathyphila. Based on Anatomical Characters of the Clasper, Cranium and Pelvic Girdle. Copeia, 1977 (1): 20-25, fig. 1-5.

Roule, L. 1912. Notice sur les sélaciens conservés dans les collections du Musée Océanographique. Bull. Inst. océanogr., Monaco, (243): 36 p.

Stehmann, M. 1970. Vergleichend morphologische und anatomische Untersuchungen zur Neuordnung der Systematik der nordostatlantischen Rajidae (Chondrichthyes, Batoidei). Arch. FischWiss., 21(2): 73-163,1 fig., pl. 1-27.

Stehmann, M. 1971a. Raja (Leucoraja) leucosticta spec. nov. (Pisces, Batoidei, Rajidae), eine neue Rochenart aus dem Seegebiet des tropischen Westafrika; gleichzeitig zur Frage des Vorkommens von Raja ackleyi Garman, 1881, im mittleren Ostatlantik. Arch. FischWiss., 22 (1) :1-16, fig. 1-12.

Stehmann, M. 1978. Raja bathypila, eine Doppelart des Subgenus Rajella: Wiederbeschreibung von R. bathyphila Holt & Byrne, 1908 und Raja bigelowi spec. nov. (Piscles, Rajiformes, Rajidae). Arch. FischWiss. 29 (1/2): 23-58, fig. 1-15.

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