Rajella fyllae

Rajella fyllae is a species of skate in the family Rajidae.

Name
The scientific name fyllae refers to the ship HDMS Fylla, from where the holotype was collected by the Fylla scientific expeditions of 1884 and 1886 to Greenland.

It is sometimes called the round ray or round skate, but those names are also used for the family Urotrygonidae or the genera Heliotrygon and Irolita. The name Fylla's ray is also used, perhaps by writers who thought that "Fylla" was the name of a person.

Distribution
The round ray lives in the North Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean. It is a benthic fish, found in depths of 147 - 2055 m, typically 300 - 800 m; in cold deeper continental shelf waters, 3 - 5.5 C.

Description
Like all rays, the round ray has a flattened body with broad, wing-like pectoral fins. Its maximum length is 60 cm. Its dorsal (upper) surface is grey or brown, with the lower surface light gray or fawn, with dark patches on the pelvic fins and axils of pectoral fins.

Behaviour
Rajella fyllae feeds on mysids, copepods, crustaceans and amphipods.

In breeding, there is a distinct pairing of the male and female, with an "embrace." It is oviparous, the eggs being oblong with stiff pointed "horns" in the corners; they are deposited in sandy or muddy flats.