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winter skate

Photo by LeGresley (2015)

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Learn  /  Species at Risk  /  Winter Skate

The Winter Skate is a marine species recognized for its presence in the northeastern waters of North America, including the surrounding areas of Newfoundland and Labrador. They predominantly inhabit sandy and gravelly ocean floors and are classified as endangered globally.

Habitat & Range

The Winter Skate primarily resides in the northwest Atlantic Ocean, extending from southern Newfoundland through the Gulf of St. Lawrence and down to Cape Hatteras. The Winter Skate is a bottom-dwelling fish, preferring sandy or gravel areas, primarily found at depths under 111m but recorded down to 371m in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. They inhabit waters between -1.2 and 15°C.

Scientific Name

Leucoraja ocellata

Conservation Status

The Winter Skate is listed as endangered by the IUCN due to significant threats from commercial fishing practices like bycatch. There's no comprehensive data on its population size specifically in Canadian Atlantic waters, but there is concern over its decline in certain areas, particularly in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence​​​​.

Size

The Winter Skate, a relatively large skate species found in Atlantic Canada, typically grows up to 109 cm in total length. The size can slightly differ depending on the specific area within its Atlantic range.

Diet

Winter skate primarily feeds on amphipods and polychaetes, but their diet also includes fish, decapods, isopods, and bivalves. Larger individuals tend to eat more fish, such as sand lance, particularly in summer.

THREATS

Threats to Winter Skate include bycatch in commercial fisheries, habitat degradation, and declining prey availability due to overfishing. These factors, combined with their slow growth and late maturity, heighten their vulnerability.

CURRENT PROTECTIONS

Winter Skate is currently under consideration for SARA Status. If Winter Skate is listed as endangered, the prohibitions of SARA would immediately come into effect in Canadian waters, and it would be illegal to kill, harm, harass, capture, possess, buy, sell, or trade Winter Skate unless the associated activities can be allowed through permit, exemption or regulation. A recovery strategy and subsequent action plan(s) would be developed to identify measures to address known threats. Critical habitat – the habitat necessary for the survival and recovery of Winter Skate – would need to be identified, to the extent possible, in a recovery strategy or action plan. Destruction of any part of its critical habitat would be prohibited under SARA. 

Photo by Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (2006)

further resources

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

DFO Winter Skate Profile

SARA Registry

Winter Skate SARA Registry information

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