Range Extensions and New Records from Alaska and British Columbia for Two Skates, Bathyraja Spinosissima and Bathyraja Microtrachys

Abstract

Recent deep-water surveys of the continental slope in the Bering Sea and the eastern North Pacific, conducted by the US National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, have broadened our understanding of the ichthyofauna in the region. Herein, we report significant new records of 2 species of skates based on morphological and molecular data. For Bathyraja spinosissima, the White Skate, we describe 2 specimens: a neonate male that constitutes a northern range extension for the species to Alaska in the Bering Sea; and an adult male representing a new record for the species in British Columbia. For B. microtrachys, the Fine-spined Skate, we describe 5 males taken in a single haul that represent the 1st record of the species in British Columbia. These specimens had been previously misidentified as B. violacea, the Okhotsk Skate, a species known only from the western Aleutian Islands and the western North Pacific.