Starry ray
Starry ray
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Starry ray Illustration: Jón Baldur Hlíðberg |
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Starry ray catch (t) in Icelandic waters Source: Statistics Iceland
Starry ray catch (t) by month Source: Statistics Iceland, processing reports
Starry ray catch (t) by fishing gear Source: Statistics Iceland, weight reports
Starry ray catch (t) by type of processing Source: Statistics Iceland, processing reports |
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Scientific: Amblyraja (Raja) radiata. English: Starry ray, thorny skate. Icelandic: Tindaskata, tindabikkja. For more languages see the Marine Animal Dictionary.
Biology and distribution
The starry ray is a small ray species, usually no more than 70 cm long, but can reach up to 100 cm. It is found all around Iceland and is in fact one of the most widely distributed fish in Icelandic waters. It is common at a depth range of 20 to 1000 m, even deeper. It is not really found in large aggregations but rather spread out as individuals. The starry ray is by far the most abundant cartilaginous fish in Icelandic waters and really the only one that can be considered very common over the continental shelf.
It is found in European waters from the White Sea in the waters around the British islands in the south. It is also around the Faroe Islands, in southern Greenlandic waters and from Baffin Island to northern Florida in North America.
The starry ray feeds on a variety of prey; fishes such as sandeels, capelin and small codfishes ara commonly taken, but also benthic crustaceans and other invertebrates. Not much is known about its spawning, but it is considered to be spread over the year, with maximum in the summer. It is difficult to determine the age of cartilaginous fishes, but the starry ray is thought to be able to reach at least 20 years of age.
Catch and fishing methods
The starry ray has always been fished as bycatch in a variety of fishing gear around Iceland and until recently been discarded as trash fish. The increase in landings in recent years can therefore mostly be explained by increased retention (this species has no TAC). The landed catch has grown from virtually nothing in 1980 to more than 1000 tonnes annually after 1995. Catches have declined again in recent years.
Stock status
The starry ray is fairly abundant all around Iceland, but no formal stock assessment is conducted on this species.
Processing and markets
Most of the catch is iced at sea and then processed and frozen after landing. A relatively large share goes to local consumption. This is largely because the grey skate, that Icelanders have traditionally been eating through the centuries has become very rare and is being replaced by the starry ray in local dishes.
References and further information
References: (Galan, 1997), (Jónsson & Pálsson, 2006).
For full citation and further information on the main species in general see this page
Hreiðar Þór Valtýsson, University of Akureyri
