First observation of a skate egg case nursery in the Ross Sea
Abstract Areas of importance to Southern Ocean skates are poorly defined. Here, we identify a deepwater skate egg case nursery in a discrete location at ~460 m depth off Cape Adare in the Southern Ocean. This is the first confirmed observation of a skate nursery area in the Ross Sea and only the sec...
Published in: | Journal of Fish Biology |
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Main Authors: | , , , , |
Other Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wiley
2024
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15688 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jfb.15688 |
Summary: | Abstract Areas of importance to Southern Ocean skates are poorly defined. Here, we identify a deepwater skate egg case nursery in a discrete location at ~460 m depth off Cape Adare in the Southern Ocean. This is the first confirmed observation of a skate nursery area in the Ross Sea and only the second observation for the Southern Ocean. The morphology and size of the egg cases were consistent with the genus Bathyraja and most likely belong to the Bathyraja sp. (cf. eatonii ). The nursery occurs within the “no take” General Protection Zone of the Ross Sea region marine protected area, where commercial fishing is prohibited. |
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