Cornish Biodiversity Network  -  Supporting Wildlife Recording

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Cornish Red Data (2009)

The descriptive text, below the map, is from the Cornish Red Data Book (2009). The map on this web page depicts the organisms distribution and shows the records made pre-2000 and those made since.

Dipturus batis - Common Skate



Habitat & Distribution

This, the largest and heaviest European ray, lives mainly between 90-220m depth.

Populations occur offshore of the Isles of Scilly, western and northern Ireland and western Scotland. Elsewhere it occurs from northern Morocco north through to Iceland. During the 1960s young specimens were regularly caught by anglers off the north coast of Cornwall, between Portreath and Newquay, otherwise it has only rarely been recorded for the county. Once found all around the coasts of Britain and Ireland except for south-east England, this species has disappeared from its former range due to fishing pressure. Previously listed on the IUCN Red List as ' Endangered' it is now considered to be ' Critically Endangered' (CRA2 bcd + 4bcd) due to its continued population decline. It is on the UK and OSPAR Lists of Priority Species and has also been proposed for protection under Schedule 5 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act (1981).

Source:

I.J. Bennallick, S. Board, C.N. French, P.A. Gainey, C. Neil, R. Parslow, A. Spalding and P.E. Tompsett. eds. 2009. Red Data Book for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. 2nd Edition.Croceago Press.

The Cornish Red Data Book Project was led by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Federation for Biological Recorders (CISFBR). The full text and species accounts (minus the maps) are available on the CISFBR website.