Seamount egg‐laying grounds of the deep‐water skate Bathyraja richardsoni

• Published in: Journal of Fish Biology
• Main Authors: Henry, L.‐A., Stehmann, M. F. W., De Clippele, L., Findlay, H. S., Golding, N., Roberts, J.M.
• Other Authors: Natural Environment Research Council, Scottish Funding Council
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2016
• Subjects: Aquatic Science; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; North East Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jfb.13041; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fjfb.13041; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jfb.13041

Highly localized concentrations of elasmobranch egg capsules of the deep‐water skate Bathyraja richardsoni were discovered during the first remotely operated vehicle ( ROV ) survey of the Hebrides Terrace Seamount in the Rockall Trough, north‐east Atlantic Ocean. Conductivity–temperature–depth profiling indicated that the eggs were bathed in a specific environmental niche of well‐oxygenated waters between 4·20 and 4·55° C, and salinity 34·95–35·06, on a coarse to fine‐grained sandy seabed on the seamount's eastern flank, whereas a second type of egg capsule (possibly belonging to the skate Dipturus sp.) was recorded exclusively amongst the reef‐building stony coral Solenosmilia variabilis . The depths of both egg‐laying habitats (1489–1580 m) provide a de facto refuge from fisheries mortality for younger life stages of these skates.