Beringraja inornata

Beringraja inornata (Jordan & Gilbert, 1881).

California Skate. To 79 cm (31.1 in) TL (NWFSC-FRAM). Strait of Juan de Fuca (Eschmeyer and Herald 1983) to southern Baja California and Gulf of California (McEachran in Fischer et al. 1995). Benthic; depth: 3 m (10 ft) to at least 300 m (984 ft) (min.: Personal communication: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Fish Collection, La Jolla, California; max.: Joseph J. Bizzarro). While there are a small number of NWFSC-FRAM records from deeper than 300 m (as deep as 792 m, 2,598 ft), these lack documentation and may be due to misidentifications. Similarly, the 1,600 m (5,248 ft) record of Pearcy et al. (1982) is likely in error (Joseph J. Bizzarro). Formerly Raja inornata Jordan & Gilbert, 1881. While we have listed this species, as well as Beringraja rhina (Jordan & Gilbert, 1880) and Beringraja stellulata (Jordan & Gilbert, 1880), in the genus Beringraja, we argue that the inclusion of these three species within that genus is unfounded, based on genetic results that separate them from Beringraja binoculata (Girard, 1855) and Beringraja pulchra (Liu, 1932) (found in the northwest Pacific). Parenthetically, B. binoculata and B. pulchra are the only two skates in this genus that are known to deposit multiple embryos in each egg case) (Chiquilo et al. 2014). Thus, we only reluctantly accept this unlikely change of genus until a reclassification (in progress as of 2021) is published.