It is found off the Atlantic coasts of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay where its natural habitat is over the continental shelf in the open sea.

The Atlantoraja castelnaui are found in the Southwest South Atlantic Ocean from Rio de Janeiro State in Brazil to Argentina.

They prefer warm-temperate waters at depths ranging from 20 to 220 m.[2] In Argentina, they can be found as natives to the Argentinian Zoogeographic Province.

[4] Males have a continuous production of mature spermatozoa suggests they can reproduce throughout the year but studies have shown higher values in certain months but they are not significant.

[5] In the cities of Santos and Guarujá, specimens of the spotback skate which are deemed large enough to have commercial value are commonly landed and marketed.

[4] Large body size is in turn correlated with higher mortality rates and with life-history parameters such as late age at maturity.

[4] Another study by García et al. (2007) also corroborated the notion that a large body size increased the extinction risk in elasmobranchs.

[4] Spotback skates are also especially vulnerable to trawl fisheries because they inhabit the soft bottom substrates of the ocean (Ebert; Sulikowski, 2007).

Their diet shifts with increasing body size and as a response to seasonal and regional changes in prey abundance and distribution.