Blonde rays
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Blond ray ( Raja brachyura ) |
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| Raja brachyura | ||||||||||||
| Lafont , 1871 |
The blond ray ( Raja brachyura ) belongs to the genus Raja and the family of the real rays ( Rajida ).
features
Blonde rays have a broad, diamond-shaped body disc with angular wings. The snout is somewhat elongated and obtuse-angled. In adult animals, the skin is rough all over the top and a longitudinal row of small thorns is present on the top of the caudal peduncle. Young animals have a complete row of thorns on the dorsal center line and on the caudal peduncle, as well as another row on the side of the caudal peduncle, which may also be incomplete in adult females . Adult males have small claw spines on the pectoral fins and on the sides of the head. The eyes are smaller than the spray holes. The almost straight mouth opening and the five gill slits are on the belly side. The 60–90 teeth are pointed in both sexes. Two dorsal fins of almost the same size, standing close together, stand at the end of the short, slender tail stalk. The caudal fin has receded, there is no anal fin . The back is light brown with numerous, small black spots distributed over the entire surface and a few, irregularly distributed, larger light spots. The ventral side is whitish or yellowish white. Young animals have a black tip of the snout. The maximum length is 1.15 m with a weight of about 12 kg.
distribution
The species occurs in the north-east Atlantic, from the Shetland Islands to Madeira and along the north-west African coast, rarely in the western Mediterranean . It usually stays on sand and mud bottom, mostly at a depth of about 40-100 m. The young animals prefer shallower water, the adult animals, on the other hand, retreat to deeper zones and only appear near the coast during the summer months.
Way of life
Blond rays lay eggs ( oviparous ). The large, horny egg capsules (11.5 to 14.3 cm long, 7.2–9 cm wide) have a long adhesive process at each corner. They are deposited, up to 30 per female, in spring and early summer. On the Algerian coast it was observed that the eggs lay there in winter and that the young later live above 15 m depth. The development time of the seedlings is about seven months.
food
Small bottom animals, mainly small fish, crabs and mollusks .
literature
- Josef H. Reichholf and Gunter Steinbach : The large Bertelsmann Lexikothek, Volume 3, Fish, (freshwater and marine fish).
Web links
- Blondray on Fishbase.org (English)
- Raja brachyura inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Ellis, J., Ungaro, N., Serena, F., Dulvy, NK, Tinti, F., Bertozzi, M., Pasolini, P., Mancusi, C. & Noarbartolo di Sciara, G., 2008 Retrieved November 3, 2013.