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Species: Schroederobatis americana, American legskate, American Leg Skate

All Families:   All Genera:   All Species:

disc heart-shaped
eye large
snout medium, + filament
tail thin, no Ds
pelvics: front lobe separate, = leg

Schroederobatis americana Bigelow & Schroeder, 1962

American legskate

Disc heart–shaped, 1.03X as wide as long, with convex rear edges, with free rear tips ending behind pelvic-fin origin; disc front edges more or less straight till curves forwards near round tips of pectorals; snout before eyes long (~21% of TL), tip sharply pointed, ending in a short fine filament, with a  support cartilage; eye 20-25% of snout length; pelvic front lobes slender, leg–like, distinctly separate from rear lobes; tail base abruptly slender, tail very slender, almost whip–like, longer to shorter than disc length; dorsal fins and lateral tail folds absent; upper and lower caudal fins small, membranous; skin of disc smooth, without thorns (except on upper edges of wings of males), on upper and lower surfaces.

Upper surface uniform grey-brown; lower surface greyish-white, with dark-brown mottling behind mouth

Reaches 38 cm

Soft bottoms

Depth range 183-915 m

Hispaniola, Honduras to Suriname.


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Salinity
  • Marine
  • Marine Only
Inshore/Offshore
  • Offshore
  • Offshore Only
Water Column Position
  • Bottom
  • Bottom only
FishBase Habitat
  • Bathydemersal
Feeding Group
  • Data
  • Carnivore
Diet
  • Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
  • Mobile benthic worms
  • Data
  • Bony fishes
Egg Type
  • Benthic
  • No pelagic phase
  • Data
Global Endemism
  • Greater Caribbean endemic
  • West Atlantic Endemic
  • All species.
Regional Endemism
  • Continent + Island (s)
  • Continental primarily
  • GC endemic
  • All species..
  • Continent
Residency
  • Resident
Climate Zone
  • Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
  • Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
IUCN Red List
  • Listed
  • Data deficient
CITES
  • Not listed
Length Max
  • 38
Depth Range Min
  • 183
Depth Range Max
  • 915