Seamount egg-laying grounds of the deepwater skate Bathyraja richardsoni (Garrick 1961)

• Published in: Journal of Fish Biology
• Main Authors: Henry, L-A, Stehmann, MFW, de Clippele, L, Findlay, HS, Golding, N, Roberts, JM
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Ecology and Environment; Fisheries; Marine Sciences; Hebrides Terrace Seamount; Rockall Trough; North East Atlantic
• Online Access: http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/7660/; http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/7660/1/jfb.13041; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jfb.13041; https://doi.org/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.