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its external characteristics, it was identified as female and Aegean, Thracian, and Ionian Seas (Papaconstantinou,
considered as immature, since according to the literature, 2014 and references therein).
mature females are more than 4 m long (Cook & Com- One more 2.5 m long specimen of H. griseus was re-
pagno, 2005). In the area, abundant young hake (Merluc- ported on the web by WWF; it was caught by a fishermen
cius merluccius) and rose shrimp (Parapenaeus longiros- in Saronikos Gulf, off Hydra Island (without reference
th
tris) catches are known (unpublished data). According to coordinates), on January 9 2016 (http://www.wwf.gr/
Kabasakal (2006), hake and shrimps are among the main news/1747-2016-01-11-12-05-15). The size of the latter
preys of the species. H. griseus is recorded for first time indicates a young specimen. The results of this work may
in the Saronikos Gulf, although it has been reported in the indicate that Saronikos Gulf is a trophic ground for young
Greek Seas and more particularly in the Kyklades, Kriti H. griseus.
and Dodecanisa Islands, Thermaikos Gulf and the North

5.3 Occurrence of Leucoraja fullonica in Argolikos Gulf (Aegean Sea)

A. Dogrammatzi & C. Stamouli

The Shagreen skate of fuller’s ray, Leucoraja ful- the Mediterranean Sea is higher than that in the Northeast
lonica, is an offshore species, usually occurring at depths Atlantic (30-50% decline over 29 years) (McCully, 2016).
st
of 200-550 m. It is generally distributed in the Atlantic On July 1 2016, one individual of L. fullonica (Fig.
Ocean from Iceland to Madeira and Northern Morocco, 18) was caught during the Mediterranean Trawl Survey
while in the Mediterranean Sea the species is known (MEDITS) (cod end mesh size 20 mm, net shape: square)
to exist in the western and central region, the southern in Argolikos Gulf, SE Peloponnisos (37.37194° N,
Adriatic Sea (Zupa et al., 2010) and the western coasts of 22.97611° E), at a depth of 540 m. The individual meas-
Greece (Stehmann & Bürkel, 1984). ured 816 mm TL and weighed 2417 g TW, and it was a
According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Spe- female at the sexual maturity stage 4a (MEDITS, 2016),
cies, L. fullonica is considered as Vulnerable on a global whose ovary walls were transparent, with oocytes of dif-
level and as Critically Endangered in the Mediterranean ferent sizes, white or yellow, and the oviducts appeared
basin. It has also been suggested that the rate of decline in quite enlarged, collapsed and empty.

Fig. 18: Leucoraja fullonica caught in Argolikos Gulf (TL=816 mm). July 2016 (Aegean Sea).

Medit. Mar. Sci., 18/1, 2017, 179-201 193