Editing Skate (fish) (section)

{{Short description|Family of fishes}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2024}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Skates
| image = Amblyraja hyperborea1.jpg
| image_caption = [[Arctic skate]], ''Amblyraja hyperborea''
| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Late Cretaceous | Recent}}<ref name=FB>{{FishBase_family|family=Rajidae|year=2009|month=January}}</ref>
| taxon = Rajidae
| authority = [[Charles Lucien Bonaparte|Bonaparte]], 1831
}}

'''Skates''' are [[Chondrichthyes|cartilaginous fish]] belonging to the [[family (biology)|family]] '''Rajidae''' in the superorder [[Batoidea]] of [[Ray (fish)|rays]]. More than 150 species have been described, in 17 genera.<ref name=Last2016>{{cite book |first1=P.R. |last1=Last |first2=B. |last2=Séret |first3=M.F.W. |last3=Stehmann |first4=S. |last4=Weigmann |chapter=Skates: Family Rajidae |pages=204–363 |editor1-last=Last |editor1-first=Peter |editor2-last=Naylor |editor2-first=Gavin |editor3-last=Séret |editor3-first=Bernard |editor4-last=White |editor4-first=William |editor5-last=de Carvalho |editor5-first=Marcelo |editor6-last=Stehmann |editor6-first=Matthias |title=Rays of the World |date=2016 |publisher=Csiro Publishing |isbn=978-0-643-10914-8 }}</ref> [[Arhynchobatidae|Softnose skates]] and [[Gurgesiellidae|pygmy skates]] were previously treated as subfamilies of Rajidae (Arhynchobatinae and Gurgesiellinae), but are now considered as distinct families.<ref name=Last2016/> Alternatively, the name "skate" is used to refer to the entire order of [[Rajiformes]] (families [[Anacanthobatidae]], [[Arhynchobatidae]], [[Gurgesiellidae]] and [[Rajidae]]).<ref name=Last2016/>

Members of Rajidae are distinguished by a stiff snout and a [[rostrum (anatomy)|rostrum]] that is not reduced.<ref>EBERT, D.A. (2003) The Sharks, Rays and Chimaeras of California. University California Press, Berkeley, CA. 284 pp.{{pn|date=June 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Compagno |first1=Leonard J |chapter=Systematics and Body Form |pages=1–42 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ON-sPP5rowwC&pg=PA1 |editor1-last=Hamlett |editor1-first=William C. |title=Sharks, Skates, and Rays: The Biology of Elasmobranch Fishes |date=1999 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-6048-5 }}</ref>