Queen's University Marine Laboratory, Newtownards, UK.
Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, France.
J Fish Biol. 2023 Sep;103(3):516-528. doi: 10.1111/jfb.15466. Epub 2023 Jun 14.
Morphological similarities between skates of the genus Dipturus in the north-eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean have resulted in longstanding confusion, misidentification and misreporting. Current evidence indicates that the common skate is best explained as two species, the flapper skate (Dipturus intermedius) and the common blue skate (D. batis). However, some management and conservation initiatives developed prior to the separation continue to refer to common skate (as 'D. batis'). This taxonomic uncertainty can lead to errors in estimating population viability, distribution range, and impact on fisheries management and conservation status. Here, we demonstrate how a concerted taxonomic approach, using molecular data and a combination of survey, angler and fisheries data, in addition to expert witness statements, can be used to build a higher resolution picture of the current distribution of D. intermedius. Collated data indicate that flapper skate has a more constrained distribution compared to the perceived distribution of the 'common skate', with most observations recorded from Norway and the western and northern seaboards of Ireland and Scotland, with occasional specimens from Portugal and the Azores. Overall, the revised spatial distribution of D. intermedius has significantly reduced the extant range of the species, indicating a possibly fragmented distribution range.
东北大西洋和地中海的 Dipturus 属软骨鱼在形态上非常相似，这导致了长期以来的混淆、误认和误报。目前的证据表明，普通鳐最好被解释为两个物种，即拍动鳐（Dipturus intermedius）和普通蓝鳐（D. batis）。然而，一些在物种分离之前制定的管理和保护措施仍然将普通鳐（即“D. batis”）。这种分类学上的不确定性可能导致对种群生存能力、分布范围以及对渔业管理和保护状况的影响的估计错误。在这里，我们展示了如何使用分子数据和调查、钓鱼者和渔业数据的组合，以及专家证人陈述，来协同进行分类学方法，以建立更高分辨率的 D. intermedius 当前分布情况的图片。汇集的数据表明，与普遍认为的“普通鳐”分布相比，拍动鳐的分布范围更受限制，大多数观察记录来自挪威以及爱尔兰和苏格兰的西部和北部沿海地区，偶尔也有来自葡萄牙和亚速尔群岛的标本。总体而言，D. intermedius 的修订后的空间分布大大缩小了该物种的现存范围，表明其分布范围可能已经碎片化。
