Bathyraja panthera, a new species of skate (Rajidae: Arhynchobatinae) from the western Aleutian Islands, and resurrection of the subgenus Arctoraja Ishiyama

We provide morphological and molecular evidence to recognize a new species of skate from the North Pacific, Bathyraja panthera. We also resurrect the skate subgenus Arctoraja Ishiyama, confirming its monophyly and the validity of the subgenus. Arctoraja was previously recognized as a distinct subgenus of Breviraja and later synonymized with Bathyraja (family Rajidae). Although the nominal species of Arctoraja have all been considered synonyms of Bathyraja parmifera by various authors, on the basis of morphometric, meristic, chondrological, and molecular data we recognize four species, including the new species. Species of Arctoraja are distributed across the North Pacific Ocean and adjacent seas from southern Japan to British Columbia. Bathyraja parmifera is abundant in the eastern Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and northern Gulf of Alaska; B. smirnovi is a western Pacific species found in the Sea of Okhotsk and Sea of Japan; B. simoterus is restricted to waters around the northern and eastern coasts of Hokkaido, Japan; and the new species B. panthera is restricted to the western Aleutian Islands. Bathyraja panthera is diagnosed by its color pattern of light yellow blotches with black spotting on a greenish brown background, high thorn and vertebral counts, chondrological characters of the neurocranium and clasper, and a unique nucleotide sequence within the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase gene. Furthermore, the species presently recognized as Bathyraja parmifera exhibits two haplotypes among specimens from Alaska, suggesting the possibility of a second, cryptic species.

Änderung wissenschaftlicher Gattungsnamen der Echten Rochen (Raja spp.), Familie Rajidae

Based on a comprehensive compilation and evaluation of hitherto published revisions by international rajid systematists, the U.S. authors McEachran and Dunn (1998) published a summarizing revision on phylogenetic interrelationships within the family Rajidae. The family has been subdivided into the two subfamilies Rajinae and Arhynchobatinae comprising 15 and 11 rajid genera, respectively. Within the Rajinae, seven former subgenera of Raja and Gurgesiella have been newly elevated to generic rank, likewise two former subgenera of Raja within the Arhynchobatinae. As a consequence, generic names have changed for quite a number of mainly former Raja species not only in European and North Atlantic waters. Table 1 presents for comparison a selection of European skate species on the shelf with the former and new generic assignment, as well as their German names. As Fishery Conventions and Societies, as well as regional (e.g., ICES) and international organizations (e.g., FAO) are increasingly using the new scientific name combinations for fishery statistics and in relevant publications, all involved in fisheries should be aware of these nomenclatorial alterations.