A nursery site of the Alaska skate (Bathyraja parmifera) in the eastern Bering Sea

• Main Author: Hoff, Gerald R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: Biology; Ecology; Fisheries; Bering Canyon; Bering Sea; Alaska
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1834/25478

A nursery site for the Alaska skate (Bathyraja parmifera)was sampled seasonally from June 2004 to July 2005. At the small nursery site (~2 km2), located in a highly productive area near the shelf-slope interface at the head of Bering Canyon in the eastern Bering Sea, reproductive males and females dominated the catch and neonate and juvenile skates were rare. Seasonal samples showed summertime (June and July) as the peak reproductive time in the nursery although some reproduction occurred throughout the year. Timeseriesanalysis of embryo length frequencies revealed that three cohorts were developing simultaneously and the period of embryonic development was estimated at 3.5 years and averageembryo growth rate at 0.2 mm/day. Estimated egg case deposition occurred mainly during summertime and hatching occurred during winter months. Protracted hatching timesmay be common for oviparous elasmobranch species and may be directly correlated with ambient temperatures as evident from a meta-data analysis. Evidence indicates that the Alaska skate uses the eastern Bering Sea outer continental shelf region for reproduction and the middle and innershelf regions as habitat for immature and subadults. Skate nurseries may be vulnerable to disturbances because they are located in highly productive areas and because embryos develop slowly.