| Order: Rajiformes Family: Rajidae Genus: Dipturus Rafinesque, 1810 Dipturus batis (Linnaeus, 1758) En: Grey skate - Du: Vleet |
Largest species of ray found in the North Sea, where it used to be quite common. However, D. batis is only sexually mature at an older age (only after 12 years) and therefore has strongly decreased in number due to overfishing (EcoMare, 2001). Less common off the Dutch coast, mainly in summer (Nijssen & de Groot, 1987, p. 63), nowadays almost disappeared (Nijssen, 2001, p. 43). Egg-capsules of D. batis have not been found on the Dutch coast after 1962 (Bor, 1998, p. 27).
Fisheries data:
| January 2000 | Most recent report of the catch of a large grey skate. Specimen with a weight of 55 kg and around 2.04 m long caught in the vicinity of Smith's Knoll by the Dutch vessel SL3 (EcoMare, 2001). |
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© Taco Bor |