whiteleg skate
Amblyraja taaf (Meisner, 1987)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Amblyraja taaf, commonly known as the whiteleg skate or thorny skate, is a little-known skate found at depths ranging from 150 to 600 m. It has been located off Crozet and Kerguelen Islands. Other specimens have been found off the coast of South Africa and Madagascar, but may be unrepresentative of the skate's native regions. Because of the limited knowledge of its biology and extent of capture in fisheries, this species is assessed as data deficient.
Wikipedia contributors, Amblyraja taaf; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:21:24.196966+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Amblyraja taaf (Meisner, 1987)
- Name authority
- (Meisner, 1987)
- Common name
- whiteleg skate
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Elasmobranchii
- Order
- Rajiformes
- Family
- Rajidae
- Genus
- Amblyraja
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumChondrichthyes
- classElasmobranchii
- subclassNeoselachii
- infraclassBatoidea
- orderRajiformes Berg, 1940
- familyRajidae de Blainville, 1816
- genusAmblyraja Malm, 1877
- speciesAmblyraja taaf (Meisner, 1987)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Amblyraja. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Jensen's skateAmblyraja jenseni (Bigelow & Schroeder, 1950) | RajidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Amblyraja reversa (Lloyd, 1906) | RajidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| arctic skateAmblyraja hyperborea (Collett, 1879) | RajidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| starry rayAmblyraja radiata (Donovan, 1808) | RajidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Antarctic starry skateAmblyraja georgiana (Norman, 1938) | RajidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Amblyraja doellojuradoi (Pozzi, 1935) | RajidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Amblyraja frerichsi (Krefft, 1968) | RajidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Raja taaf Meisner, 1987 Meisner, 1987 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=234766 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:5TZNN. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.