''Dipturus teevani'', commonly known as the prickly brown ray or Caribbean skate, is a species of

cartilaginous fish Chondrichthyes (; ) is a class of jawed fish that contains the cartilaginous fish or chondrichthyans, which all have skeletons primarily composed of cartilage. They can be contrasted with the Osteichthyes or ''bony fish'', which have skeleto ...

in the family Rajidae. The prickly brown ray is medium in size compared to other skates, and is known from a patchy, deep-water distribution in the western Atlantic Ocean.

Etymology

The prickly brown ray's genus name, ''Dipturus'', comes from the two

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

words: ''δι'' (di), meaning "two", and ''πτερύγια'' (pteryx), meaning fin.Romero, P., 2002. An etymological dictionary of taxonomy. Madrid, unpublished. Its species name is a reference to ichthyologist John Teevan, in appreciation for the help he gave the authors Bigelow and Schroeder when he worked as editor-in-chief for the book, ''Fishes of the Western Atlantic''.

Taxonomy

The prickly brown ray was first given the name ''Raja teevani ''by its discoverers,

Henry Bryant Bigelow Henry Bryant Bigelow (October 3, 1879 – December 11, 1967) was an American oceanographer and marine biologist. He was a professor at Harvard University for 60 years and was the founding director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Th ...

and

William Charles Schroeder William Charles Schroeder (1895–1977) was an American ichthyologist. He was born on Staten Island, New York. He, along with his lifelong colleague Henry Bryant Bigelow, made substantial contributions to the knowledge of the fish fauna of the wes ...

, after being caught accidentally on a

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

related expedition in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

in the winter of 1950-1951.Bigelow, H. B. and W. C. Schroeder 1951 (Dec.) Three new skates and a new chimaerid fish from the Gulf of Mexico. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences v. 41 (no. 12): 383-392. The species was encountered again by Bigelow and Schroeder in 1962, and specimens were given the name ''Raja floridana''.Bigelow, H. B. and W. C. Schroeder 1962 (31 Dec.) New and little known batoid fishes from the Western Atlantic. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology v. 128 (no. 4): 161-244, Pl. 1. Animals under both names have since been moved to the genus ''Dipturus'' by Jacob and McEachran, but the name ''teevani'' was kept.Jacob, B.A. and J.D. McEachran, 1994. Status of two species of skates, ''Raja'' (''Dipturus'') ''teevani'' and ''R.'' (''D.'') ''floridana'' (Chondrichthyes: Rajoidei), from the western north Atlantic. Copeia 1994(2):433-445.

Description

Prickly brown rays are considered medium-sized rays, with a maximum total length of 84 cm, while males reach maturity around 63 cm. They normally are light/pale brown on top and cream-colored to dusky on bottom.Kells, Val., Carpenter, Kent. A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes From Maine to Texas. 2011. Johns Hopkins University Press. pg 86. Both the

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage The fus ...

and

caudal Caudal may refer to: Anatomy * Caudal (anatomical term) (from Latin ''cauda''; tail), used to describe how close something is to the trailing end of an organism * Caudal artery, the portion of the dorsal aorta of a vertebrate that passes into th ...

fins are black, and the dorsal fin is fully connected at its base. The

anterior Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position pro ...

margins and the trailing tips of the

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

s are both concave, and they are incised deeply near the tail. Visible thorns ( denticles) are only found near the eyes and in a single row on the top of the tail. Like many other skates and rays, the eggs of the prickly brown ray have horn-like projections. ''Dipturus teevani'' can be distinguished from other rays in its genus by its long snout (22% of total length), which forms an

acute angle In Euclidean geometry, an angle can refer to a number of concepts relating to the intersection of two straight lines at a point. Formally, an angle is a figure lying in a plane formed by two rays, called the '' sides'' of the angle, sharing ...

with the pectoral fins (around 70°).McEachran, J., Fechhelm, J., Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. Vol. 1. 1998. University of Texas Press, Austin. p. 158 The length of the pectoral fin radials is roughly 40% the length of the snout. The mouth is slightly arched on either side of the

symphysis A symphysis (, : symphyses) is a fibrocartilaginous fusion between two bones. It is a type of cartilaginous joint, specifically a secondary cartilaginous joint. # A symphysis is an amphiarthrosis, a slightly movable joint. # A growing together o ...

and the upper

jaw The jaws are a pair of opposable articulated structures at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term ''jaws'' is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth ...

contains 36 to 38 rows of teeth. The oronasal pit is absent, and the anterior (the larger of the two) and posterior pelvic lobes are connected to each other by a fin-membrane. The prickly brown ray's tail can be from 48% to 53% of the total length and is just as wide at its middle as its base.

Distribution and habitat

The prickly brown ray has a rather fragmented range in the western Atlantic, where it is native. Large regions: from

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

to the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral island, coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami a ...

, from the northern

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc w ...

, coasts of

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

and

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

are known to support it. They have also been found in smaller-sized areas of the southern Gulf of Mexico and the coasts of

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

, and

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

and northern

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Prickly brown rays are usually bottom dwelling and live on the upper continental slope (specifically the southeast U.S. continental shelf and the north Brazil shelf) at depths from 311– 732 meters.Uyeno, T., K. Matsuura and E. Fujii (eds.), 1983. Fishes trawled off Suriname and French Guiana. Japan Marine Fishery Resource Research Center, Tokyo, Japan. 519 p.Bigelow, H.B. and W.C. Schroeder, 1953. Sawfishes, guitarfishes, skates and rays. p. 1-514. In J. Tee-Van et al. (eds.) Fishes of the western North Atlantic. Part two. New Haven, Sears Found. Mar. Res., Yale Univ. Despite their occurrence on two shelves, as well at the open Atlantic and Caribbean Sea, little is known about their life habits or behavior because they are seldom caught.Cervigón, F., R. Cipriani, W. Fischer, L. Garibaldi, M. Hendrickx, A.J. Lemus, R. Márquez, J.M. Poutiers, G. Robaina and B. Rodriguez, 1992. Fichas FAO de identificación de especies para los fines de la pesca. Guía de campo de las especies comerciales marinas y de aquas salobres de la costa septentrional de Sur América. FAO, Rome. 513 p. Preparado con el financiamento de la Comisión de Comunidades Europeas y de NORAD.

References

External links