Thorny skate | DE L'EAU À LA BOUCHE

Illustration couleur d'une raie épineuse

Corps fortement aplati.

Dessus très rugueux et de couleur gris brun avec des taches noires irrégulières et dispersées.

Entre 11 et 19 grandes épines marquent le milieu du dos et se prolongent sur la queue.

Épines présentes sur le museau et autour des yeux. Chez les individus matures, il y a des épines entre le museau et la bouche.

Ventre blanc avec, parfois, des petites taches.

Queue, mince, portant deux nageoires de même forme, avec des plis sur les côtés.

Nom

Thorny skate
Amblyraja radiata

Type

Bottom fish

Autres appellations

Nom en cuisine

État de la ressource

Cause for concern

Saison de consommation

Unknown

SIZE :

Up to 100 cm.

LIFE EXPECTANCY :

20 to 30 years.

LIFE CYCLE :

The thorny skate is sexually mature when it attains 44 cm to 90 cm, depending on the region where it lives.

It can reproduce all year round. The male and female embrace one on top of each other. The male inserts its reproductive organ, called the clasper, into the female’s cloaca. After reproduction, the female lays, in pairs, 10 to 45 eggs per year on muddy or sandy seafloors.

Called egg capsules, the eggs are shaped like elongated rectangles. Each extremity has a stiff, pointed horn. The two longer sides are lined with a mass of fine filaments. Depending on the ambient temperature of the water, the incubation period of the eggs ranges from 4 months to 3 years.

Thorny skates can migrate, seasonally, in the western Atlantic no farther than some 100 kilometres from their place of birth.

On the bottom. Between 100 and 500 m in depth; but can go to 1,200 m deep.

The thorny skate will favour a wide variety of seafloors: sand, gravel, mud as well as broken sea shells. It lives offshore in temperatures that vary between 0 °C and 10 °C.

PREY :

Shrimps
Crabs
Molluscs
Small fish

PREDATORS :

Grey seals
Sharks

Electrifying sensitivity

The thorny skate can generate and detect weak electric fields. It uses them to detect its prey.

MACHINES :

Longline, gillnet, trawler.

REGULATIONS :

Quota since 1995.

Thorny skates started to be targeted by commercial fisheries following the decline of bottom fish, such as Cod. The thorny skate has experienced a serious decline in its population in the southern part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This decline persists despite a reduction in mortality due to over-fishing.

BENEFITS :

Thorny skates are a great source of vitamin B12, protein, and minerals such as iodine, selenium, and phosphorus.

LET’S COOK :

White flesh with a firm texture and sweet taste.

It is the ray’s wings that are eaten; fresh, salted, smoked, pan-fried, or baked.

OUR CULINARY ADVICE :

Because of its preoccupying status, it is not recommended to consume thorny skate.