On the presence of the Endangered white skate Rostroraja alba in Sardinian waters

Martina Francesca MARONGIU

First

;Cristina PORCU

Second

;Andrea BELLODI;Rita CANNAS;Laura CARUGATI;Alessandro CAU;Antonello MULAS;Paola PESCI

Penultimate

;Maria Cristina FOLLESA

Last

2021-01-01

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Abstract

The white skate Rostroraja alba is assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as Endangered globally and is now considered rare in the Mediterranean. This species has never been recorded in Sardinian seas (central western Mediterranean), but an empty eggcase was collected on a sandy bottom off the western Sardinia coasts during the MEDiterranean International Trawl Survey (MEDITS) program in 2019. A morphometric and morphological description of the Sardinian eggcase, after a comparison with measurements from other Mediterranean and Atlantic specimens, showed it to be clearly ascribable to R. alba.