Big Skate

by Katie Jacobs

SKATES

Skates belong to a group of
fish called elasmobranches, which are boneless fish. The skate is a relative
to sharks and rays, all belong to the order Batoidei, meaning all skates
and rays. But not all rays are skates. Skates can be found from the Arctic
to the Antarctic; their living space extends from shallow coastal areas
to depths 9,800 feet.

The common skate can weigh up
to 250 lb. with a length over nine feet. Some of the more common skates
found in North America include: Little skate (Raja erinacea), Barndoor skate
(Raja laevis), Winter skate (Raja ocellata), Thorney Skate (Raja radiata),
and the Smooth skate (Raja senta).

Skates and rays can be quite
difficult to tell apart. Both are flat and live close to the ocean floor,
and share a similar diamond shape. These are the distinguishing features
of a skate:

• Each pelvic fin is divided
  into two lobes
  
  
  
  
• Tail relatively stocky without
  stinging spines
  
  
  
  
• Tail usually with two small
  dorsal fins near its tip and a tiny caudal fin
  
  
  
  
• Many have enlarged, thorn-like
  scales along the midline of back and tail; enlarged scales also occur along
  the side of the body in some species.
  
  
  
  
• Males have rows of enlarged
  scales near the eyes and wingtip

Mainly bottom-dwellers, skates
fed on a variety of animals including lobsters, crabs, shrimps and other
small crustaceans, as well as worms, bivalve, mollusks, polychaetes, and
small fish. Although all skates eat the same kind of food, different kinds
of skates, for example little skates and winter skates, can share the some
habitat without any serious competition, by eating food in different proportions.

In commercial fishing, a skate
is of little value and is usually ground up into fishmeal, but for small
scale fishing it is meaty, sold in large slabs or chunks as this rather
large fish is too big to display on the counters at the markets. Unlike
most fish, the skate has no true bones, instead its skeleton is made of
soft cartilage. The skate is a rather inexpensive fish, so it is good value
for money. It is also very meaty so there is barely anything to waste. The
flesh is smooth and tasty, wonderful grilled or baked on charcoal and served
with a hot tamarind dip.