Skip to content
Illustration of Graytail skate
fishing forecast

graytail skate

Bathyraja griseocauda · full profile

location

Sample location: choose yours to see the forecast for where you fish.

period

Loading the forecast…

the species

everything about the graytail skate

how to recognize it

Skate with a flattened body, broad disc and thin tail set apart from the disc, like the other skates of the family. The tail is greyish, and the Spanish name (austral lija) refers to its rough skin. It lives at much greater depths than the shelf skates of the same region, between 94 and 585 m, so you have to fish deep to find it.

Also called: raia-lixa-austral, raya austral lija, graytail skate, austral ray

We don't have tips on season, bait or technique for this species yet.

Where to look: Sea floor, between 94 and 585 meters deep, from Uruguay to the Southern Ocean.

Southeast Pacific and Southwest Atlantic, from Uruguay to Patagonian Argentina, including the Falklands and the Southern Ocean. It does not occur in Brazil.

rules for the graytail skate

Rules change; before keeping or transporting fish, check with the state environmental agency.

We found no species-specific rule beyond the region's general rules.

IUCN global: EN · endangered.

how much it weighs without taking it out of the water

estimated weight

—

how we calculate

Length-weight relationship W = a·Lb (a = 0.00562, b = 3.13; FishBase (relação peso-comprimento bayesiana, estimativa pelo gênero e formato do corpo)). It's an average: a fat or lean fish can vary by 10% to 20%.

more about the graytail skate

The austral lija skate is a skate of the family Arhynchobatidae, with a flattened body and a disc formed by the pectoral fins. It reaches 49 cm. It lives near the bottom in deep water, between 94 and 585 m, from Uruguay to Patagonia, in the Falklands and in the Southern Ocean, from the Scotia Arc to the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula. It is oviparous, and the egg cases have horn-like projections on the shell. It turns up in commercial fishing and is endangered. It does not occur in Brazil.

Family: Arhynchobatidae · predator

sources and references (2)

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.

  1. scientific FishBase: Bathyraja griseocauda (ficha da espécie)Size, length-weight, depth, habitat, distribution, biology, and IUCN status. Page checked on Oct 13, 2026.
  2. scientific FishBase: nomes populares de Bathyraja griseocaudaNames by country and language.