Sexually Dimorphic Morphological Characters in Five North Atlantic Deepwater Skates (Chondrichthyes: Rajiformes)

Table 5

Morphometrics and meristics of male and female Mid-Atlantic skate Rajella kukujevi from different areas of the North Atlantic (significant differences are given in bold, number of specimens examined are shown in parentheses, m = standard error, na = not available).

	Females (2)						Males (6)
Character	Absolute			% TL			Absolute			% TL
	Min	Max	Mean	Min	Max	Mean ± m	Min	Max	Mean	Min	Max	Mean ± m
TL, mm	602.0	604.0	603.0				597.0	757.0	716.2
Disc, width	335.0	340.0	337.5	55.6	56.3	56.0 ± 0.32	337.0	442.0	412.2	56.0	58.5	57.5 ± 0.44
length	301.0	308.0	304.5	50.0	51.0	50.5 ± 0.50	299.0	394.0	366.5	50.1	52.3	51.1 ± 0.35
Snout length, preorbital	83.3	86.6	85.0	13.8	14.3	14.1 ± 0.25	83.8	111.0	99.4	13.2	15.0	13.9 ± 0.26
preoral	85.7	90.7	88.2	14.2	15.0	14.6 ± 0.39	94.2	111.5	103.9	13.2	16.0	14.6 ± 0.48
prenasal	74.5	81.2	77.9	12.4	13.4	12.9 ± 0.53	80.1	96.9	89.1	11.8	13.4	12.5 ± 0.27
Orbit, horizontal diameter	21.8	27.5	24.7	3.6	4.6	4.1 ± 0.47	24.0	37.2	29.0	3.2	4.9	4.1 ± 0.26
Interorbital width	24.2	25.4	24.8	4.0	4.2	4.1 ± 0.09	23.9	32.1	27.7	3.7	4.2	3.9 ± 0.09
Spiracle length	15.7	17.8	16.8	2.6	2.9	2.8 ± 0.17	14.0	21.7	19.1	1.8	3.1	2.7 ± 0.19
Interspiracular width	40.8	42.5	41.7	6.8	7.0	6.9 ± 0.13	42.4	56.8	51.0	6.7	7.5	7.1 ± 0.14
Orbit + spiracle length	28.6	30.9	29.8	4.8	5.1	4.9 ± 0.18	33.3	42.9	36.3	4.5	5.7	5.1 ± 0.19
D1, height	14.7	18.3	16.5	2.4	3.0	2.7 ± 0.30	14.0	27.6	22.2	2.3	3.7	3.1 ± 0.19
base length	29.0	31.6	30.3	4.8	5.2	5.0 ± 0.22	31.0	38.0	34.6	4.1	5.9	4.9 ± 0.24
D2, height	17.1	18.2	17.7	2.8	3.0	2.9 ± 0.10	17.9	28.6	22.0	2.7	3.8	3.1 ± 0.16
base length	33.3	36.2	34.8	5.5	6.0	5.8 ± 0.25	27.3	42.3	36.1	4.6	5.6	5.0 ± 0.15
Interdorsal space	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
C, base length	8.9	10.8	9.9	1.5	1.8	1.6 ± 0.16	8.2	12.0	10.2	1.2	1.6	1.4 ± 0.06
Tail, postdorsal length	8.9	10.8	9.9	1.5	1.8	1.6 ± 0.16	8.2	12.0	10.2	1.2	1.6	1.4 ± 0.06
height at V-tips	17.2	17.4	17.3	2.8	2.9	2.9 ± 0.02	15.9	23.0	20.2	2.4	3.0	2.8 ± 0.10
width at V-tips	25.2	26.0	25.6	4.2	4.3	4.2 ± 0.06	20.7	38.9	29.1	3.0	5.1	4.0 ± 0.34
height at D1 origin	6.7	7.2	7.0	1.1	1.2	1.2 ± 0.04	6.2	11.0	8.0	1.0	1.5	1.1 ± 0.07
width at D1 origin	11.3	11.4	11.4	1.9	1.9	1.9 ± 0.01	9.2	16.4	13.3	1.5	2.2	1.8 ± 0.12
lateral fold length	124.0	128.0	126.0	20.6	21.2	20.9 ± 0.30	78.6	170.0	133.1	13.2	22.5	18.4 ± 1.47
Head length, ventrally	151.4	162.0	156.7	25.1	26.8	26.0 ± 0.84	156.6	203.5	182.9	22.8	26.9	25.6 ± 0.63
Mouth width	45.0	45.8	45.4	7.5	7.6	7.5 ± 0.05	45.5	57.8	54.4	7.3	7.8	7.6 ± 0.06
Internasal width	58.0	64.2	61.1	9.6	10.6	10.1 ± 0.50	58.0	79.0	67.6	7.7	10.5	9.5 ± 0.44
Nasal curtain, length	25.6	26.9	26.3	4.2	4.5	4.4 ± 0.12	22.9	35.9	31.1	3.8	4.8	4.3 ± 0.13
width	48.4	50.6	49.5	8.0	8.4	8.2 ± 0.17	42.5	67.5	57.4	7.1	9.0	8.2 ± 0.40
width each lobe	11.2	12.9	12.1	1.9	2.1	2.0 ± 0.14	8.6	16.0	13.9	1.4	2.1	1.9 ± 0.11
space between lobes	na	na	na	na	na	na	33.0	33.7	33.4	4.4	4.5	4.5 ± 0.09
Gill slit length, first	8.5	9.8	9.2	1.4	1.6	1.5 ± 0.11	8.9	12.8	10.8	1.3	1.7	1.5 ± 0.06
third	8.8	12.2	10.5	1.5	2.0	1.7 ± 0.28	9.0	13.1	11.7	1.2	1.8	1.6 ± 0.10
fifth	7.0	9.6	8.3	1.2	1.6	1.4 ± 0.21	7.0	10.5	8.5	1.0	1.4	1.2 ± 0.06
Space between first gill slits	82.0	84.9	83.5	13.6	14.1	13.8 ± 0.22	80.5	103.5	92.9	11.4	13.7	13.0 ± 0.35
fifth gill slits	51.4	53.8	52.6	8.5	8.9	8.7 ± 0.18	62.9	68.7	64.9	8.3	10.6	9.1 ± 0.33
V-length, anterior lobe	79.4	83.2	81.3	13.1	13.8	13.5 ± 0.34	85.0	109.1	98.4	11.2	14.9	13.8 ± 0.56
posterior lobe	103.0	105.2	104.1	17.1	17.5	17.3 ± 0.21	101.2	149.0	129.6	15.2	19.8	18.1 ±0.71
Clasper, postanus length	na	na	na	na	na	na	49.9	168.0	118.4	8.4	22.2	16.2 ± 2.43
Snout tip to center of anus	275.0	283.0	279.0	45.7	46.9	46.3 ± 0.59	276.0	367.0	335.7	44.9	48.7	46.9 ± 0.53
to max. disc width	87.4	90.0	88.7	14.5	15.0	14.7 ± 0.24	78.2	244.0	150.7	11.3	32.2	20.9 ± 3.29
Center of anus to D1	237.0	248.0	242.5	39.2	41.2	40.2 ± 0.98	243.0	317.0	289.5	39.0	41.9	40.4 ±0.38
to D2	269.0	279.0	274.0	44.5	46.3	45.4 ± 0.90	273.0	351.0	322.5	43.4	46.4	45.0 ± 0.43
to tail tip	311.0	321.0	316.0	51.5	53.3	52.4 ± 0.92	315.0	403.0	364.5	47.2	53.2	51.0± 0.88
Snout angle	87.0	91.0	89.0 ± 2.00				79.0	96.0	87.0 ± 2.44
No. of preorbital thorns	2	6	3.5 ± 1.00				3	6	4.1 ± 0.54
No. of postorbital thorns	2	4	2.8 ± 0.75				0	5	3.0 ± 0.79
No. of orbital thorns	5	8	6.3 ± 0.25				2	10	6.6 ± 1.21
No. of interspiracular thorns	1	2	1.8 ± 0.25				0	2	1.2 ± 0.17
No. of nuchal thorns	4	8	6.0 ± 2.00				2	5	3.8 ± 0.54
No. of scapular thorns	2	4	3.0 ± 1.00				0	5	2.4 ± 0.62
No. of interscapular thorns	0	2	1.0 ± 1.00				0	4	2.0 ± 0.63
Total no. of median thorns	21	29	25.0 ± 4.00				0	25	14.0 ± 3.79
Lateral spines right	57	58	57.5 ± 0.50				55	79	66.3 ± 3.55
Lateral spines left	39	56	47.5 ± 8.50				57	89	68.8 ± 5.09
No. trunk vertebrae	25	25	25.0 ± 0.00				25	28	26.2 ± 0.58
No. caudal vertebrae	105	113	109.0 ± 4.00				99	118	106.4 ± 3.44
Tooth rows upper jaw	40	na	40.0 ± na				35	43	38.7 ± 1.17
Tooth rows lower jaw	38	40	39.0 ± 1.00				31	44	39.7 ± 1.91