Amblyraja hyperborea (Collett, 1879)

Boreal Skate or Bigmouth Skate

Raja hyperborea Collett, 1879: 7 . Holotype (unique): ZMUO J.3134. Type locality: Northwest of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway.

Local synonymy: Raja robertsi: Hulley, 1970: 190, fig. 12 (original description, west of Cape Town, South Africa, 33°51'S, 17°14'E); Hulley, 1972a: 86, figs. 58–59; Hulley, 1986: 125, fig. 25.18; Stehmann, 1995: 106. Raja (Amblyraja) robertsi: Compagno et al., 1989: 88, pl.; Compagno et al. 1991: 93; Ebert et al., 1991: 79. Amblyraja robertsi: Compagno, 1999: 116; Compagno & Ebert, 2007: 133, fig. 4b; Ebert & Compagno, 2007: 119; Ebert et al., 2008: 84; Ebert, 2015: 172, fig. 187; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 147. Amblyraja hyperborea: Ebert & Compagno, 2007: 118; Last et al., 2016f: 18; Last et al., 2016g: 213, fig. 19.4; Weigmann, 2016: 939.

South Africa voucher material: ZMH 25250 [ex ISH 54-1967]. Ebert et al. (2008) examined two specimens and four egg cases of this species at SAM; none had accession numbers.

South African distribution: Known from three records west of Cape Town (WC) in very deep water (Compagno & Ebert, 2007).

Remarks: This species was previously referred to as Amblyraja robertsi, but recent molecular and morphological data confirm this species is the wide-ranging A. hyperborea that has a circumglobal distribution (Last et al., 2016a). Two males, an adolescent and an adult, and four egg cases for this species were also trawled from 1,150 m off Cape Town (Ebert et al., 2008).

Conservation status: LC (2016).