Starry ray (thorny skate)

How it lives

The starry ray lives on sandy and muddy seabeds in cold water, from about 5 to 1,540 m but usually at 25 to 440 m, in water from about -1 to 14 degrees C. It lays eggs in tough cases, and a female can produce 10 to 45 egg cases a year. In the North Sea development takes about four months, and hatchlings are 8 to 12 cm (3 to 5 in) long. Maturity comes at about 87.5 cm (34 in), and the oldest age reported is 28 years.

Where it goes

In a Gulf of Maine tagging study, tagged skates moved at least 0.4 to 46.8 km over periods of 22 to 3,435 days, in random directions with no seasonal pattern. About 94 percent stayed in the same depth zone between tagging and recapture.

We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.

Populations

Worldwide: Vulnerable (IUCN, 2020). It lives across the North Atlantic and adjacent Arctic waters. In the Gulf of Maine, a 2020 study reports its abundance has declined by 80 to 95 percent since the 1960s. It has been a prohibited species in US waters since 2003, and bycatch in the Gulf of Maine trawl fishery is estimated at about 79 tonnes a year, around 1 percent of the biomass. It is of minor commercial value, and landings have been turned into fishmeal. I did not read regional assessments for other areas.