The scientific name fyllae refers to the ship
HDMS Fylla, from where the
holotype was collected by the Fylla scientific expeditions of 1884 and 1886 to
Greenland.[5]
It is sometimes called the round ray or round skate,[6] but those names are also used for the family
Urotrygonidae or the genera Heliotrygon and Irolita.[7][8] The name Fylla's ray is also used, perhaps by writers who thought that "Fylla" was the name of a person.[9][10]
Like all rays, the round ray has a flattened body with broad, wing-like
pectoral fins. Its maximum length is 60 cm (2.0 ft). Its dorsal (upper) surface is grey or brown, with the lower surface light gray or
fawn, with dark patches on the
pelvic fins and axils of
pectoral fins.[13]
In breeding, there is a distinct pairing of the male and female, with an "embrace." It is
oviparous, the eggs being oblong with stiff pointed "horns" in the corners; they are deposited in sandy or muddy flats.[15]