The Sydney skate (''Dentiraja australis'') is a species of

skate Skate or Skates may refer to: Fish *Skate (fish), several genera of fish belonging to the family Rajidae * Pygmy skates, several genera of fish belonging to the family Gurgesiellidae * Smooth skates or leg skates, several genera of fish belongin ...

of the family Rajidae native to waters off the east coast of Australia.

Taxonomy

Scottish-Australian naturalist

William John Macleay Sir William John Macleay (13 June 1820 – 7 December 1891) was a Scottish-Australian politician, naturalist, zoologist, and herpetologist. Early life Macleay was born at Wick, Caithness, Scotland, second son of Kenneth Macleay of Keiss and h ...

described the species as ''Raja australis'' in 1884, from specimens collected from a trawl off the south head of

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal language, Dharawal: ''Kamay'') is an open oceanic embayment, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point a ...

. He was excited by the find of a skate species in Sydney waters and wondered about its potential as a food item. He observed, "As an article of food, skate has never been much in favour here, in fact, except in French cafés and places of that kind." It was placed in the genus ''

Dipturus ''Dipturus'' is a large genus of Skate (fish), skates native to the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. They were formerly included in ''Raja (fish), Raja''. Some species initially moved to ''Dipturus'' were later placed in ''Dentiraja'', ''Spi ...

'' in 2002, with other members of the then subgenus '' Dentiraja'' before the group was raised to genus level as a whole in 2016, when it gained its current binomial name ''Dentiraja australis''. As well as Sydney skate, the species is also known as common skate, Pommy skate, or simply skate.

Description

Generally between long, the Sydney skate can reach in length. The upperparts are brown, with lighter color on the snout and pectoral fins, while the underparts are white.

Distribution and habitat

The Sydney skate is found on the continental shelf off the east coast of Australia, at depths of . Once one of the most abundant skate species the continental shelf off Eastern Australia, the Sydney skate has drastically declined in numbers. Skate species declined in trawl catches off the New South Wales central and south coast by 83% between 1976/1977 and 1996/1997. It is one of four species identified as threatened with extinction by trawling in a 2021 report.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q46638633 Rajiformes Marine fish of Southern Australia Fish described in 1844 Taxa named by William John Macleay