Maturity of skates in Northeast United States waters

Abstract

There are few studies on the life history of most skate species, including the seven resident off the Northeast coast of the United States. Assumptions have been made about longevity, growth rate, and maturity based on body size and relationships developed from a few studied species. In the present study observations on maturity of the seven species of skates in the Northwest Atlantic were made on research surveys during 2000-02. These observations consisted of measurements of body morphometry (clasper length and cloaca length) for which the allometric growth rates change with maturity. A technique primarily used in crustacean biology was employed to estimate the size at first maturity. Values of size at first maturity ranged from 33 cm for male rosette skate to 105 cm for female barndoor skate.