skate (redirected from skates)

skate, fish: see ray.

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skate

Any of nine genera (suborder Rajoidea) of rounded to diamond-shaped rays. These bottom-dwellers are found from tropical to near-Arctic waters and from the shallows to depths of more than 9,000 ft (2,700 m). Most have spines on the upper surface, and some have weak electrical organs in their long, slender tails. Skates lay oblong, leathery eggs (called mermaid's purses), which are often found on beaches. Species vary from 20 in. (50 cm) to 8 ft (2.5 m) long. They swim with an undulating movement of their pectoral fins. They trap active mollusk, crustacean, and fish prey by dropping down on them from above. Skates' “wings” are edible.

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skate¹

1. See roller skate ice skate

2. the steel blade or runner of an ice skate

3. such a blade fitted with straps for fastening to a shoe

4. a current collector on an electric railway train that collects its current from a third rail

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skate²

any large ray of the family Rajidae, of temperate and tropical seas, having flat pectoral fins continuous with the head, two dorsal fins, a short spineless tail, and a long snout

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skate [skāt]

(vertebrate zoology)

Any of various batoid elasmobranchs in the family Rajidae which have flat bodies with winglike pectoral fins and a slender tail with two small dorsal fins.