Brown body above with numerous small dark and light spots and white below. The species has rough skin and a relatively wide tail with three rows of conical spines.
Rough skate are members of the Rajidae family (skates). They are common in coastal waters, often to a depth of about 200 meters. They occur at a lesser depth further south. The females lay horny egg boxes on the seabed.
The species is caught by coastal fishermen throughout the year as a bycatch, often in conjunction with the corresponding smooth skate (D.innominata). The fins are skinned and are marketed as wings.
PROFILE
Length: 45-80 cm, reaching 100 cm
Weight: 1-10 kg
Availability: all year round
Meat: Moist and tender meat with medium to low oil content; is an ideal substitute for whitebait in pancakes
MARKET NAME
New Zealand: Rough Skate
Netherlands: Rog, Vleet, Schate
France: Raies
Germany: rays
Greece: Selachi
Japan: Suei, Gangiei
Korea: Gaori
Spain: Raya
Rough skate (Zearaja nasuta, RSK) stretches in the coastal waters of the North and South Islands and in the Stewart Is - Snares Islands Shelf as well as occasional records of Chatham Rise and Campbell Plateau. The depth ranges from the shore to about 1,000 m, but rarely below 600 m. In New Zealand, raw skates are commercially exploited in close collaboration with smooth skates, also known as barndoor skates (Francis 1997). Although coarse skates become much smaller than smooth skates, RSK is still landed and processed. Two other types of deep-sea ice skates (Bathyraja shuntovi and Raja hyperborea) are large enough to be of commercial interest, but are relatively uncommon and are likely to account for a negligible percentage of landings (MPI 2011).
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