ON THE CAPTURE OF A LARGE PREGNANT BATHYTOSHIA LATA (CHONDRICHTHYES: MYLIOBATIFORMES: DASYATIDAE) FROM THE COAST OF ÇEŞME, IZMIR (AEGEAN SEA, TURKEY)

On the capture of a large pregnant Bathytoshia lata (Chondrichthyes: Myliobatiformes: Dasyatidae) from the coast of Çeşme, Izmir (Aegean Sea, Turkey)

Okan Akyol, İlker Aydın, Ali Ulaş, Christian Capapé

Faculty of Fisheries, Ege University, 35440, Urla, Izmir, TURKEY
Laboratoire d’Ichtyologie, case 104, Université Montpellier II, Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc, 34095, Montpellier cedex 5, FRANCE

Abstract

The authors report in this paper the capture of a large female of Bathytoshia lata (Garman 1880) measuring 2220 mm in disc width and weighing approximatively 350 kg. It was a pregnant female at the end of the gestation which carried six near-term embryos. The specimen and its capture are described, indicating that the species is probably threatened but not totally extinct.

Keywords: Size, measurements, pregnancy, distribution, Mediterranean Sea

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