Rioraja agassizii
Coastal ray from the coast of Espírito Santo to Argentina, threatened in Brazil. Catching it is prohibited in the country: if you hook one by accident, release it right away.
Also called: raia-santa, emplastro, raya lisa, rio skate
The santa skate is a skate of the family Arhynchobatidae, with a flattened body and a disc formed by the pectoral fins. It reaches 33 cm in disc width. It is a coastal species, living on sand, mud or gravel bottoms down to 130 m deep, from Espírito Santo to Argentina. It feeds on crustaceans, mollusks and fish. It is oviparous, and the egg cases have horn-like projections. It turns up in commercial fishing and is listed on the national list of threatened species as vulnerable, with catching prohibited in Brazil.
Essential profile. Identification, where it occurs and rules, with data from FishBase and the cited regulations. Season, time of day, technique and bait are added once we have a good source for the rio skate; in the meantime, see the similar species.
Small, flattened skate with a rounded disc, smooth back (raya lisa, in Spanish) and thin tail set apart from the disc. It is much smaller than the circle skate (Atlantoraja cyclophora), which has circles on its back and reaches 78.9 cm. It also shares the southeast and south coast with the emplastro skate (Sympterygia acuta), which has a larger snout.
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Each card shows the day's index (0 to 100) and, below it, a strip with the index for each hour, from 0h to 23h. from poor to excellent.
Essential profile: the index uses a general fish model (weather, sun, moon and tide), without a season or time of day specific to this species.
Southwest Atlantic, from Espírito Santo to Argentina. In Brazil it lives on the southeast and south coast.
Habitat: Sand, mud or gravel bottom of the coast, down to 130 meters deep.
coast
Summary of the regulations we found, with the source for each. Rules change; before keeping or transporting fish, check with the state environmental agency.
Conservation: On the national list of threatened species as VU. IUCN global assessment: VU.
The national list (Portaria GM/MMA nº 1.667/2026) classifies the species as VU. Under Portaria GM/MMA nº 1.666/2026 (art. 3º), VU, EN and CR species have full protection: catch, transport, storage, processing and sale are banned. If you hook one by accident, release it at once, handling it as little as possible.
Source: Portaria GM/MMA nº 1.666/2026, art. 3º, and Portaria GM/MMA nº 1.667/2026
Threatened species with capture prohibited in Brazil. If it comes on the line, keep the skate in the water whenever you can, remove the hook with long-nose pliers or cut the line close and release it right away. Avoid lifting it by the tail and watch the spines on the back and tail.
Length-weight relationship W = a·Lb (a = 0.0049, b = 3.02; FishBase (relação peso-comprimento bayesiana, estimativa da própria espécie)). It's an average: a fat or lean fish can vary by 10% to 20%.
estimated weight
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Essential profile: size, length-weight, depth, countries and conservation come from FishBase and the cited regulations, and the texts were written from those sources. Season, time of day, sensitivities, technique and baits and lures are not included yet, because we did not find a good source for this species.
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