Common Skate Dipturus batis
The Common Skate (Dipturus batis) is Europe's largest ray and one of the most critically endangered elasmobranch species in the world, having been virtually eliminated from the southern North Sea and much of the wider North Atlantic through decades of trawling. Once present in Suffolk waters and the wider southern North Sea, it is now functionally extinct in this region, surviving only in a small number of strongholds off north-west Scotland and Ireland. Any record – historical or contemporary – from Suffolk waters is of significant scientific interest, and the species serves as a stark illustration of the impact of bottom trawling on slow-reproducing fish. Image: © Gonzalo Mucientes Sandoval, iNaturalist.
Find out more: Suffolk Wildlife Trust, iNaturalist, Marine Life Information Centre
Suffolk’s Priority Marine Life Species
Key
Listed as a conservation priority in Suffolk’s Biodiversity Action Plan.
Closely associated with Suffolk’s landscape and natural identity.
Identified as a key priority for recovery under Suffolk’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy.
Has a Species of the Month article attached.
