Watercolors and text by Nancy Edwards
Skates and rays are common in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and along the shorelines of New Jersey. When not swimming these flat cartilaginous fish can be found buried in the sandy bottom waiting for their next meal or hiding from predators seeking to make a meal of them.
Rays and skates are oddly configured with mouths, nostrils, and gill slits on the underside of their bodies; eyes and breathing holes are on their upper side. Skates and rays are elasmobranchs; their skeletons are made from flexible strong cartilage rather than bone. Their flattened wing-like bodies allow them to glide with ease and great speed through the water.
Similar in appearance, skates and rays are frequently mistaken for one another. However, there are physical differences that easily distinguish them.
- Rays are generally larger than skates. Skates have a prominent nose-like structure known as a rostrum at the front of their flat body giving it an elongated triangular shape and a thick shorter tail with a dorsal fin at the tip.
- Rays have distinct wing-like pectoral fins and longer whip-like tails with a caudal barb located at the base. Skates are kite-shaped with shorter tails and no caudal barb.
- Aside from their appearance, skates and rays reproduce differently. Skates are oviparous, their young develop in egg sacks called mermaids purses while rays give birth to live fully formed young.
- Many species of skates live in cool waters, rays prefer warm water temperatures.
- Both skates and rays have modified placoid scales for crushing crustaceans, molluscs, and fish. Skates have small pointed teeth, while rays have dental plates with rows of small, flat teeth.
- Both skates and rays have an important role in the ecosystem of the Atlantic ocean.
Some species of skate and ray commonly found in the waters of the New Jersey coast include:
Little Skate (Leucoraja erinacea) are found mostly in estuarine habitats from Sandy Hook to the Delaware Bay. Mature adults are generally sixteen to twenty inches long.
Clearnose skate (Raja eglanteria) has an average length of thirty-three inches and a translucent snout. They are seen from late spring until early fall when water temperatures are between 50 and 70 degrees.
Winter skate (Leucoraja ocellata) one of the largest skates found in the coastal waters of New Jersey with an average size of thirty to forty inches in length. They are known to be most active between October and early June.
Cownose ray (Rhinoptera bonasus) is the most common ray observed along the New Jersey coast from May to October and tends to migrate along the Atlantic coast to feed and give birth. They head south in the fall in large schools, sometimes numbering in the thousands. With a kite-shaped body and whip-like tail they are known to jump out of the water creating a loud smacking sound as they dive back in.
Bullnose ray (Myliobatis freminvillii) has large broad pectoral fins with sharp points and a thin snout and grows to be twenty-four to twenty-eight inches across.
