Leucoraja lentiginosa ( Bigelow and Schroeder, 1951a )

Jones, Christian M., Driggers Iii, William B., Hannan, Kristin M., Hoffmayer, Eric R., Jones, Lisa M. & Raredon, Sandra J., 2020, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyan fishes inhabiting the northern Gulf of Mexico Part 1: Batoidea, Zootaxa 4803 (2), pp. 281-315 : 290

Leucoraja lentiginosa ( Bigelow and Schroeder, 1951a) —freckled skate, freckle skate

Synonyms: Raja lentiginosa Bigelow and Schroeder, 1951a

Distribution. While generally reported from northwestern Florida to the Texas/ Mexico border in the northern GOM, NMFS SEFSC trawl surveys have captured this species as far south as southern Florida, at the approximate level of Everglades City, Florida. This species has been reported from depths of 55 to 590 m.

First Record in GOM. This species was originally described ( Bigelow and Schroeder 1951a) from specimens collected in 1951 in the GOM aboard the RV Oregon. While the holotype ( USNM 153552 ) was collected from the Campeche Bank in the southern GOM, the type series contains paratypes ( USNM 153553 to 153555 and MCZ 37197) collected from the northern GOM off of Cape San Blas and Pensacola, Florida ( Springer and Bullis 1956) .

Remarks. This species was considered by McEachran (1977) to be a subspecies of Raja garmani . McEachran and Dunn (1998) elevated the subgenus Leucoraja Malm, 1877 to the level of genus and separated Leucoraja lentiginosa from Leucoraja garmani . This separation has recently been supported by molecular work (G. Naylor, personal communication).

Conservation Status. Data Deficient