Bathyraja chapmani n. sp., a new deep-sea skate (Rajiformes: Arhynchobatidae) from the Southeast Pacific Ocean

A new species of softnose skate, Bathyraja chapmani n. sp., is described from two female specimens collected in deepwater off Lima, Peru (-11.933°, -78.15°), in the southeastern Pacific, at 1714 m deep, in a fishery for Patagonian toothfish. The new species is separated from other southeastern Pacific Bathyraja species by having the same color and same irregular spotted pattern on both the dorsal and ventral surfaces, as well as the form and arrangement of thorns and denticles and several meristic characters. Bathyraja chapmani n. sp. has a uniform black-to-chocolate or dark-plum-brown background coloration with an irregular pattern of whitish to dark-colored scattered spots. Its closest congener, Bathyraja aguja, also from Peru, has two symmetrically arranged, large, white spots on the dorsal surface at the pectoral-fin bases, symmetrically arranged white spots along the disc margins, and a ventral surface lacking any spots or patterning. The new species is the fourth Bathyraja species known to occur in Peruvian waters.