Sand rays
| Sand rays | ||||||||||||
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Sand rays ( Leucoraja circularis ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Leucoraja circularis | ||||||||||||
| ( Couch , 1838) |
The sand ray ( Leucoraja circularis ) is a relatively small representative of the real rays (Rajidae) that occurs in the north-eastern Atlantic from the coast of southern Norway and Iceland to Morocco and the Mediterranean . Since it only lives in water depths below 70 meters, it is absent in the central and southern North Sea . Reports of occurrences on the coast of Mauritania and Senegal are probably based on confusion with Leucoraja leucosticta .
features
The sand ray becomes a maximum of 1.20 meters long, but usually stays at a length of 70 cm. His rostrum is short but protrudes a little. The back of the ray is spiked. In addition to the central row, there are one or two further rows of spines parallel to the central row. Between the eyes there are two rows of eight spines each, further spines that form a triangle at the transition from the head to the torso. On the ventral side, spines are only found on the muzzle, between the gill slits and on the front edge of the body disc. The tail is only slightly longer than the body. Sand rays are colored red-brown on the back, with 4 to 6 cream-colored spots. The underside is white.
Way of life
The sand ray lives on the shelf at depths of 100 (rarely 70) to 275 meters, in the eastern Ionian Sea at depths of up to 67 meters. It feeds on small animals that live on the ground. Like all real rays it is egg-laying ( oviparous ). The eggs are elongated horn capsules that are 8.3 to 9.2 cm long and 4.6 to 5.3 cm wide and are laid all year round.
literature
- Bent J. Muus, Jørgen G. Nielsen: The marine fish of Europe in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Atlantic. Kosmos, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07804-3 .
Web links
- Sand rays on Fishbase.org (English)
- Leucoraja circularis inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Ungaro, N., Serena, F., Ellis, J., Dulvy, N., Tinti, F., Bertozzi, M., Mancusi, C. & Notarbartolo di Sciara, G., 2008 . November 2013.