Biological Knowledge of Thornback Ray (Raja clavata) from the Azores: Improving Scientific Information for the Effectiveness of Species-Specific Management Measures.

ABSTRACT: Elasmobranchs are globally recognized as vulnerable due to their life-history characteristics, fishing pressure, and habitat degradation. Among the skates and rays caught by commercial fisheries, the thornback ray Raja clavata is one of the most economically important in Northwest European seas. However, the scarcity of biological knowledge about this species in Azorean waters has limited the stock assessment types that can be conducted. To improve information on its habitat preferences, spatial distribution and movement pattern, growth, sex ratio, mortality, and reproduction, as well as to investigate long-term changes in abundance and size, this study analyzed approximately 25 years of fishery-dependent and independent data from the Azores. Raja clavata was mainly caught at depths up to

SUBMITTER: Santos R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8301307 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature