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.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley-blackwell 2016
• Subjects: deep sea; elasmobranch; environment; habitat; reproduction; Hebrides Terrace Seamount; Rockall Trough; North East Atlantic
• Online Access: https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00344/45508/45061.pdf; https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00344/45508/45062.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.13041; https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00344/45508/

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.