Barndoor skate
📖 Overview
Occur from water's edge to 430 m depth; absent from shoal waters in south during warm months . Found in salinities that range from 35 along the continental edge to 31.5 inshore along the open coast and as low as 21-24 . Live on all kinds of bottom . Benthic . Feed on bivalve mollusks, squids, rock crabs, lobsters, shrimps, worms and fishes. Oviparous. Distinct pairing with embrace. Young may tend to follow large objects, such as their mother . Eggs are oblong capsules with stiff pointed horns at the corners deposited during summer (with 6-month development) in sandy or muddy flats. Egg capsules are 7.1-13.2 cm long and 4.6-7.4 cm wide . Males reaches maturity at ca. 100 cm TL, females at 96-105 cm TL; hatch size at 18-19 cm TL . Little use is made of the small quantities that are caught. In some cases, they are made into fish meal.
🔬 Taxonomy
🐟 Physical Description
Disk broad, with sharply angled corners and a pointed snout; front edges concave. No middorsal spines on disk. Tail with 3 rows of spine (1 middorsal row and 1 row on each side). Dorsal fins close together . Upper surface brownish, with many scattered small dark spots. Mucous pores on nuchal region. Lower surface white, blotched irregularly with gray .: other.
🌀 Behaviour
Behavioural data for Barndoor skate is currently being reviewed.
🦐 Diet
The fish is carnivorous, with its prey consisting mainly of benthic invertebrates and fishes. Such food items include polychaetes, gastropods, bivalve mollusks, rock crabs, cancer crabs, spider crabs, lobsters, shrimps, squids, and fishes including spiny dogfish, alewife, Atlantic herring, menhaden, hakes, sculpins, cunner, tautog, sand lance, butterfish, and various flounders. Juveniles primarily subsist on benthic invertebrates such as polychaetes, copepods, amphipods, isopods, crangon shrimp, and euphausiids. Individuals have been found with the denticles on the snout worn smooth, indicating that the snout is used to dig in the mud or sand to obtain bivalve mollusks.
🥚 Reproduction
Oviparous, paired eggs are laid. Embryos feed solely on yolk . Distinct pairing with embrace. Young may tend to follow large objects, such as their mother .
🌍 Habitat & Distribution
Marine; demersal; oceanodromous ; depth range 0 - 750 m , usually 0 - 150 m . Temperate; 0°C - 20°C; 51°N - 33°N, 84°W - 42°W North Carolina, USA.
🌿 Ecology
bivalve mollusks, squids, rock crabs, lobsters, shrimps, worms and fishes
📐 Morphometrics
🌡️ Water Parameters & Tolerance
🛡️ Conservation Assessment
📊 Population Risk & Fisheries
🎣 Angling Guide
- medium-heavy 7ft spinning rod
- 30-50 lb braid
- fluorocarbon leader
- grass flats
- oyster bars
- marsh drains
- deeper channel edges
Use barbless hooks, minimise air exposure, and revive fish head-first in current before release.
⚠️ Slot limits protect breeding-size fish. Verify daily bag limits.
📊 Population Dynamics
| Year | Region | Index | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | - |
🔍 Similar Species
🗺️ Global Occurrence Map
Occurrence records from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) - 10 records indexed .
👥 Community & Contribute
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