Notoraja sapphira sp. nov. (Rajoidei: Arhynchobatidae), a new deepwater skate from the slopes of the Norfolk Ridge (South-West Pacific)
Author
Séret, Bernard
Author
Last, Peter R.
text
Zootaxa
2009
2153
24
34
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.188772
fac51e9e-600d-4d04-b9c7-2fbdf3757f65
1175-5326
188772
Notoraja sapphira
sp. nov.
Figs 1–7
;
Tables 1–2
Pavoraja
sp. n.
2 (violette): Séret
in
Grandperrin
et al
., 1997
, listed.
Notoraja
sp. D (NFZ): Last & Séret
in
Anonymous 2006, listed in Appendix 5, photos in Appendix 8: 6.
Holotype
.
NMNZ
P 39528, adult male
360 mm
TL
,
Norfolk
Ridge, NORFANZ, St. 145, 34°17’84 S, 168°25’82 E,
1251–1268 m
depth,
2 June 2003
.
Paratypes
(
4 specimens
).
MNHN
1997–3591, female
413 mm
LT,
Norfolk
Ridge, HALIPRO 2, St. BT 46, 25°41’0 S, 167°25’0 E,
1230–1268 m
depth,
15 Nov. 1996
;
CSIRO
H 6071–01, female
342 mm
TL
,
Norfolk
Ridge, NORFANZ, St. 120, 32°36’57 S, 167°50’33 E,
1303–1313 m
depth,
30 May 2003
;
NMNZ
P 39536, female
355 mm
TL
,
Norfolk
Ridge, St. 146, 34°14’33 S, 168°21’18 E,
1195–1202 m
depth,
3 June 2003
;
NMV
A 25171
–002, female
377 mm
TL
, same data as
NMNZ
P 39356.
Diagnosis.
A medium-size (
413 mm
TL) species of the genus
Notoraja
with the following combination of characters: disc heart-shaped with a short projected snout tip; disc slightly wider than long, disc width 51–54% of TL, disc length 47–48% TL; snout short, preorbital snout length 12–15% TL, preoral snout length 12–15% TL; interorbital width 3.6–4.1% TL; interspiracular width 6.0–6.6% TL; tail long and slender, length from posterior margin of cloaca to tip of tail 54–58% TL; dorsal surface of disc largely free of dermal denticles; rostrum with some denticles but without thorns; a small but distinct preorbital thorn on anterior upper orbital rim; denticles present on posterior mid-dorsal trunk; tail prickly with dense, irregular and randomly arranged thorns; mid-dorsal row on tail hardly distinct from the rest of thorn pattern; ventral surface of disc and tail naked; tooth rows
29–36 in
upper jaw and
28–32 in
lower jaw; pectoral-fin radials 67–70; monospondylous trunk centra 23–25; predorsal caudal diplospondylous centra 70-74; total number of centra 126–134; dorsal surface rich blue, uniform, with a narrow blackish outer margin; ventral surface of disc and tail brownish black, gill slits darker, cloaca opening and mouth corners whitish.
Description.
Disc heart-shaped, 1.1 times as broad as long in
holotype
and
paratypes
; maximum angle in front of spiracles 90°(100–108°); tip of snout forming a short triangular projection; anterior margin of disc slightly and regularly convex from anterior extension of propterygium to pectoral outer corner in female
paratypes
; anterior margin of disc undulated in adult male
holotype
, concave at either side of tip of snout, convex from anterior extension of propterygium to anterior margin of orbit, then concave to level of spiracle; pectoral corner and posterior margin of disc broadly rounded, inner pectoral corner also rounded. Axis of greatest width at 58.4% (56.6–59.1%) of disc length. Preorbital snout length 3.5 (2.6–3.9) times orbit diameter, 3.3 (3.2–4.0) times interorbital width; preoral snout length 2.0 (1.8–2.2) times internarial distance. Orbit diameter 1.0 (0.8–1.3) times interorbital distance, 1.8 (1.6–2.4) times length of spiracles. Nasal curtain with a weak rounded process along lateral margin (except in
CSIRO
H 6071–01), posterior lobe of the nasal curtain broadly rounded, posterior margin coarsely fringed. Upper and lower jaws slightly arched on either side of symphysis; upper jaw slightly indented in adult male
holotype
. Teeth with oval crown and a short bluntly cusps in female and pointed cusps in male
holotype
; arranged in quincunx in females and in diagonal rows in mature male
holotype
. Distance between first gill slits 1.8 (1.8–1.9) times as great as between nostrils; distance between fifth gill slits 1.1 (1.2–1.4) times as great as between nostrils.
FIGURE 1.
Notoraja sapphira
sp. nov.
, male holotype (NMNZ P 39528, 360 mm TL, fresh): A, dorsal surface; B, ventral surface.
Pelvic fins deeply incised with lobes connected by radials and membranes, anterior lobe moderately long, moderately narrow at base and tapering to blunt point; posterior lobe with convex lateral margins; anterior lobe about as long as the posterior lobe, 0.9 (0.8–1.0) times in posterior lobe. Tail long and slender, narrow at base, depressed over length, slightly convex ventrally, and tapering gradually posteriorly, very slender toward tip; width at axils of pelvic fins 1.9 (2.4–2.7) times width at midlength of tail and 3.5 (3.2–3.8) times width at dorsal-fin origin respectively; tail length from rear of cloaca 1.3 (1.3–1.4) times distance from tip of snout to rear of cloaca; tail width 1.7 (1.5–1.7) times height at axils of pelvic fin and width at first dorsal-fin origin 1.8 (1.6–2.0) times height; lateral skin folds originating anterior to tips of posterior pelvic-fin lobes, extending to distal half of epichordal caudal-fin lobe and broadening distally to slightly narrower than height of epichordal lobe of caudal fin. Dorsal fins of similar shape and size; rather short and moderately tall with evenly convex anterior margin, straight or slightly convex posterior margin, and a pointed or acutely rounded tip; generally separated by very short interspace, but fused above base in female NMV
A 25171
–002. Epichordal caudal-fin lobe well developed, separated by short interspace from and distinctly longer than second dorsal-fin base; hypochordal caudal lobe very low, originating near end of lateral fold, not confluent with epichordal lobe.
FIGURE 2.
Notoraja sapphira
sp. nov.
, female paratype (
CSIRO
H 6071–01, 342 mm TL, fresh): A, dorsal surface; B, ventral surface.
TABLE 1.
Morphometrics for the holotype of
Notoraja sapphira
sp. nov.
(NMNZ P 39528), ranges for the four paratypes and means for all morphometric types.
N. sapphira
sp. nov.
N. azurea
Holotype
Paratypes
Mean
Holotype
Paratypes
Mean Min Max Min Max
Total length (mm) 360 342 413 621 230 540
| Disc width |
53.6 |
50.7 |
52.6 |
52.0 |
52.2 |
52.6 |
57.0 |
54.5 |
| Disc length (direct) |
48.1 |
46.8 |
48.4 |
47.6 |
48.0 |
44.5 |
49.3 |
47.7 |
| Snout to maximum width |
28.1 |
26.5 |
28.4 |
27.6 |
28.0 |
23.1 |
29.5 |
26.7 |
| Snout length (preorbital direct) |
13.6 |
12.1 |
14.9 |
13.1 |
13.9 |
11.1 |
14.5 |
13.3 |
| Snout to spiracle |
17.9 |
16.9 |
18.7 |
17.5 |
17.3 |
14.6 |
17.6 |
16.5 |
| Head (dorsal length) |
18.7 |
17.4 |
19.6 |
18.3 |
19.5 |
16.7 |
20.1 |
19.0 |
| Orbit diameter |
3.9 |
3.4 |
4.6 |
3.9 |
3.4 |
3.2 |
3.7 |
3.5 |
| Orbit and spiracle length |
5.1 |
4.5 |
5.4 |
5.0 |
4.3 |
4.2 |
5.0 |
4.4 |
| Spiracle length (main pore) |
2.2 |
1.9 |
2.1 |
2.1 |
1.9 |
1.8 |
3.8 |
2.2 |
| Distance between orbits |
4.1 |
3.6 |
4.0 |
3.9 |
2.6 |
2.4 |
2.9 |
2.6 |
| Distance between spiracles |
6.6 |
6.0 |
6.6 |
6.4 |
4.8 |
4.8 |
5.3 |
5.0 |
| Distance snout to cloaca |
43.3 |
41.5 |
43.8 |
42.4 |
41.9 |
38.3 |
43.7 |
42.0 |
| Cloaca to first dorsal fin |
45.6 |
45.6 |
47.6 |
46.4 |
46.9 |
46.1 |
49.9 |
47.6 |
| Cloaca to second dorsal fin |
49.5 |
48.6 |
50.6 |
49.5 |
50.6 |
49.0 |
53.7 |
58.8 |
| Cloaca to caudal-fin origin |
53.3 |
52.1 |
54.6 |
53.1 |
54.8 |
53.8 |
57.4 |
54.8 |
| Cloaca to caudal-fin tip |
56.7 |
54.4 |
58.4 |
56.7 |
58.1 |
56.3 |
61.7 |
58.0 |
| Snout length (pre upper jaw) |
13.3 |
12.1 |
14.8 |
13.0 |
13.8 |
12.0 |
14.2 |
13.4 |
| Prenasal length |
10.6 |
9.5 |
11.5 |
10.3 |
11.3 |
9.0 |
11.5 |
10.7 |
| Head length to fifth gill opening |
25.5 |
24.8 |
25.8 |
25.5 |
25.1 |
23.0 |
26.1 |
24.8 |
| Mouth width |
6.6 |
5.8 |
6.4 |
6.2 |
5.7 |
4.7 |
6.3 |
5.7 |
| Distance between nostrils |
6.6 |
6.6 |
6.8 |
6.7 |
5.8 |
5.5 |
6.7 |
6.2 |
| Nasal curtain length |
4.6 |
3.6 |
4.8 |
4.4 |
3.9 |
3.1 |
4.1 |
3.7 |
| Nasal curtain total width |
7.7 |
7.4 |
8.3 |
7.9 |
7.2 |
6.5 |
7.7 |
7.1 |
| Nasal curtain (minimum width) |
6.8 |
6.6 |
7.0 |
6.8 |
4.6 |
4.4 |
4.5 |
4.4 |
| Nasal curtain (lobe width) |
2.2 |
2.2 |
2.5 |
2.3 |
1.4 |
1.1 |
1.5 |
1.3 |
| Width of first gill opening |
1.4 |
1.0 |
1.4 |
1.2 |
1.0 |
0.5 |
1.5 |
1.1 |
| Width of fifth gill opening |
0.9 |
0.7 |
1.0 |
0.9 |
0.9 |
0.4 |
1.1 |
0.8 |
| Distance between first gill openings |
11.7 |
11.7 |
12.8 |
12.2 |
9.2 |
10.3 |
11.3 |
10.3 |
| Distance between fifth gill openings |
7.3 |
7.2 |
9.2 |
8.1 |
5.9 |
6.7 |
7.6 |
6.8 |
| Clasper (post cloacal length) |
22.5 |
19.8 |
21.8 |
22.6 |
21.4 |
| Length of anterior pelvic-fin lobe |
13.3 |
13.1 |
14.4 |
13.6 |
13.0 |
12.9 |
14.8 |
13.6 |
| Length of posterior pelvic-fin lobe |
15.1 |
14.3 |
15.4 |
14.8 |
14.6 |
12.8 |
15.9 |
14.8 |
| Pelvic-fin base width |
8.8 |
8.9 |
9.9 |
9.1 |
8.1 |
7.5 |
9.6 |
8.6 |
| Tail at axil pelvic fins (width) |
4.2 |
4.1 |
4.6 |
4.3 |
3.3 |
2.2 |
3.5 |
3.0 |
| Tail at axil pelvic fins (height) |
2.4 |
2.4 |
2.7 |
2.6 |
2.0 |
1.8 |
2.1 |
2.0 |
| Tail at midlength (width) |
2.2 |
1.6 |
1.8 |
1.8 |
1.2 |
1.1 |
1.4 |
1.2 |
| Tail at midlength (height) |
1.4 |
1.1 |
1.3 |
1.2 |
0.9 |
0.9 |
1.0 |
0.9 |
continued next page
TABLE 1.
(continued)
N. sapphira
sp. nov.
N. azurea
Adult male
holotype
and female
paratypes
largely free of dermal denticles except along anterolateral margins of dorsal disc, between orbits, along mid-dorsal region of disc and on dorsal fins; a short, erect preorbital thorn on anterior upper rim of orbits. Male
holotype
with 6–9 alar thorns in 2 rows. Tail prickly with numerous thorns and thornlets on its dorsal surface; a vague mid-dorsal row of up to 45 small thorns (excluding additional surrounding thornlets); thorns with oval bases and recurved hook-like crowns. Ventral surface of disc and tail totally naked.
| Holotype Paratypes Min Max |
Mean |
Holotype Paratypes Min Max |
Mean |
| Tail at first dorsal-fin origin (width) |
1.2 1.2 1.3 |
1.2 |
0.7 0.6 0.8 |
0.7 |
| Tail at first dorsal-fin origin (height) |
0.7 0.6 0.8 |
0.7 |
0.5 0.3 0.6 |
0.5 |
| First dorsal-fin base (length) |
3.4 2.7 3.9 |
3.3 |
2.0 2.1 2.6 |
2.3 |
| First dorsal-fin (height) |
1.1 0.9 1.3 |
1.1 |
1.4 1.1 1.3 |
1.2 |
| First dorsal-fin orgin to caudal-fin tip |
11.9 10.1 12.9 |
11.6 |
11.2 8.8 12.9 |
10.9 |
| Second dorsal-fin origin to caudal-fin tip |
8.3 7.1 9.2 |
8.0 |
7.5 6.5 8.7 |
7.5 |
| Caudal-fin length |
4.3 3.7 5.2 |
4.4 |
3.3 2.8 4.3 |
3.5 |
FIGURE 3.
Dorsal view of head of
Notoraja sapphira
sp. nov.
, adult male holotype (NMNZ P 39528, 360 mm TL) showing snout, orbito-spiracular and nuchal regions.
FIGURE 4.
Ventral view of
Notoraja sapphira
sp. nov.
showing oronasal region and tooth band: A, adult male holotype (NMNZ P 39528, 360 mm TL); B, female paratype (
CSIRO
H 6071–01, 342 mm TL).
FIGURE 5.
Lateral view of dorsal and caudal fins of
Notoraja sapphira
sp. nov.
, adult male holotype (NMNZ P 39528, 360 mm TL).
Claspers (
Figure 7
) of adult male
holotype
long, very slender and flattened; glans only slightly expanded, tip bluntly pointed, with external components slit, cleft, pseudorhipidion, projection, spike and rhipidion.
Meristics (n=5): Tooth rows in upper jaw 31 (29–36); lower jaw 31 (28–32). Pectoral-fin propterygial radials 31 (31–32); mesopterygial radials 11 (10–13); metapterygial radials 27 (25–27); total radials 69 (67–70). Pelvic-fin radials in male
holotype
1+19, 1+
19–20 in
females. Monospondylous trunk centra 24 (23–25); predorsal diplospondylous centra 71 (70–74); total predorsal centra 95 (95–99); interdorsal centra 8 (7–9); total diplospondylous centra 106 (101–109); total centra 130 (126–134).
Colour.
When fresh, dorsal surface of disc uniformly rich blue, outer margins of disc narrowly dark edged; orbits and anterior pelvic-fin lobes dark greyish or blackish; tail greyish blue dorsally, lateral tail fold blackish; dorsal fins greyish blue with narrow dark edges. Ventral surface of disc, pelvic fins, and tail dark brown or brownish black, skin semi-translucent; outer margins of disc and pelvic fins broadly blackish; dark patches around each gill area, interbranchial region paler, dark brown; claspers dark brown, glans with some pale flecks; cloaca opening, mouth corners and posterior margin of posterior nasal lobe whitish. In preservative: Bright blue coloration fading (paler bluish in MNHN 1997-3591), becoming darker blue in other
paratypes
; dorsal surface appears to have irregular flecks, concentrated around bases of denticles and thornlets.
Size.
Reaches at least
413 mm
TL; smallest mature male
360 mm
TL (
holotype
).
Distribution.
Known only from the five
type
specimens collected on the slopes of the
Norfolk
Ridge (Coral Sea and Tasman Sea) from
25°41’S
to
34°17’S
(
Figure 8
), and between
1195–1313 m
depth.
Etymology.
From the Greek
sappheiros
in reference to its intense blue dorsal coloration resembling that of a dark sapphire (gemstone). Vernacular names: Sapphire Skate (English), raie saphir (French).
FIGURE 6.
Thorns at tail midlength of
Notoraja sapphira
sp. nov.
: A, dorsal and B, lateral views of adult male holotype (NMNZ P 39528, 360 mm TL); C, dorsal and D, lateral views of adult male holotype of
N. azurea
(
CSIRO
H 170–01, 621 mm TL).
Remarks.
Among the seven nominal species of
Notoraja
,
only
N. sapphira
has a primarily blue dorsal coloration similar to that of
N. azurea
from southern
Australia
(described from Tasmanian specimens). The two species are distinguished by the combination of the following characters:
N. sapphira
appears to have a smaller adult size than
N. azurea
(maximum known length
413 mm
TL whilst
N. azurea
reaches at least
645 mm
TL; size of the smallest mature male is
360 mm
TL for
N. sapphira
and
535 mm
TL for
N. azurea
) and the snout is less attenuated in the adult male
holotype
of
N. sapphira
(90°
versus
84-85° in
N. azurea
); the disc width is slightly smaller in
N. sapphira
than in
N. azurea
(50.7–53.6% TL
versus
52.6–57.0% TL); the interorbital distance is wider in
N. sapphira
than in
N. azurea
(3.6–4.1% TL
versus
2.4–2.9% TL); the interspiracular distance is wider (6.0–6.6% TL
versus
4.8–5.3% TL); the nasal curtain is wider in
N. sapphira
than in
N. azurea
(its minimum width is 6.6–7.0% TL
versus
4.4–4.5% TL); the posterior nasal curtain lobe is more expanded in
N. sapphira
than in
N. azurea
(its width 2.2–2.5% TL
versus
1.1–1.5% TL). Also, the distances between the first gill slits and the 5th gill slits are wider in
N. sapphira
than in
N. azurea
(11.7–12.8% TL
versus
10.3–11.3% TL, and 7.2–9.2% TL
versus
6.7–7.6% TL respectively), the base of the tail is proportionally wider and deeper in
N. sapphira
than in
N. azurea
(its width and height at pelvic axils are 1.2–1.3% TL
versus
0.6–0.8% TL, and 0.6–0.8% TL
versus
0.3–0.6% TL respectively). Furthermore, the dorsal surface of
N. azurea
is greyish blue and flecked with small darker spots, instead it is a plain rich blue coloration in
N. sapphira
. Beside the preorbital thorn present in both species,
N. azurea
has also a postorbital thorn. The thorn pattern of the tail is different between the two species (
Figure 6
): in
N. sapphira
, it consists of thornlets and small thorns densely distributed dorsally all over the tail; in
N. azurea
,
it consists of fewer, larger thorns that are arranged in more or less regular and more widely spaced rows. The numbers of vertebral centra are slightly different: diplospondylous predorsal centra
76–80 in
N. azurea
(
70–74 in
N. sapphira
), total number of predorsal centra 103–106 (95–99).
N. sapphira
has fewer tooth rows in the upper and lower jaws than
N. azurea
: 29–36
versus
32–43 and 28–32
versus
32–39 respectively (
Table 2
).
FIGURE 7.
Right clasper and its expanded glans of adult male holotype of
Notoraja sapphira
sp. nov.
(NMNZ P 39528, 360 mm TL). cf: clef, pj: projection, pr: pseudorhipidion, rh: rhipidion, sl: slit, sp: spike.
In their description of
N. azurea
,
McEachran & Last (2008)
stated that its coloration varies geographically and that the specimens from New South
Wales
assigned to
N. azurea
are darker; therefore they based their description on Tasmanian specimens only in case more than a single species was involved. We compared six specimens of New South
Wales
to the
types
of
N. azurea
and could not find differences other than the extent of dark blue coloration.
Table 3
summarises the geographical distributions, maximum TL and depth ranges of the seven known species of
Notoraja
. Most of the species occur in Australian waters, except
N. lira
from southeastern Indian Ocean,
N. tobitukai
from
Japan
, and the new species
N. sapphira
which is known from off
New Caledonia
(Coral Sea) and
New Zealand
(Tasman Sea). All
Notoraja
species are relatively small-sized skates, the largest are
N. azurea
and
N. sticta
which reach 64.5 and
62.7 cm
TL respectively; the new species
N. sapphira
is among the smallest with a maximum known TL of
41.3 cm
, the smallest being
N. ochroderma
with a maximum TL of
37 cm
.
Notoraja
species are deepwater skates, found between
300 m
and
1440 m
depth;
N. ochroderma
is found on the upper slope between 400 and
450 m
depth, N.
hirticauda
occurs on the mid-upper slope (
590–760 m
depth), and
N. azurea
and the new species
N. sapphira
occur deeper on the mid-slope, reaching
1440 m
and
1313 m
depth respectively.
TABLE 2.
Meristics for the type series of
Notoraja sapphira
sp. nov.
(n=5) and for
N. azurea
(six specimens of the type series from Tasmania and three specimens from New South Wales).
N. sapphira
N. azurea
N. azurea
*
6 specimens
Norfolk
Ridge Tasmania NSW
5 specimens 6 specimens 3 specimens
Monospondylous centra 23–25 25–27 25–26 Predorsal diplospondylous centra 70–74 76–80 74–78 Interdorsal diplospondylous centra 7–9
7–8 8–10
Total number of diplospondylous centra 101–109 108–111 109–112 Total number of centra 126–134 135–137 134–138 Pectoral-fin radials 67–70 66–69 66–70 Tooth rows upper jaw 29–36 32–43 36–42 Tooth rows lower jaw 28–32 32–39 34–43 Angle in front of spiracle 100°–104° 84°–112° 86°–101° * Species Geographical distribution Max. TL in cm Depth range in m
N. azurea
Southern
Australia
64.5 765 – 1440
N. hirticauda
Western
Australia
44.8 590 –
760
N. lira
Southeastern Indian Ocean 41.5 1050
N. ochroderma
Northeastern
Australia
37.0 400 –
450
N. sapphira
Norfolk
Ridge 41.3
1195 – 1313
N. sticta
Great
Australian Bight 62.7 820 – 1200
N. tobitukai
Japan
50.0 300 – 1000