Rostroraja alba

Habitat & Distribution

An offshore demersal inhabitant of the Continental Shelf and Slope with a depth range of 30-600m, usually found on sand or rock-sand bottoms. Very occasionally it wanders into Cornish waters where it may be caught by anglers, in trawls or on bottom long-lines during the summer to early autumn. Its susceptibility to capture, in combination with its life history parameters and population demography, allow little capacity for it to withstand exploitation by fisheries. It has undergone a significant but unquantifiable decline in abundance and extent in the north-east Atlantic. There is anecdotal evidence of decline in the Irish Sea and there is a high potential for collapse in the Celtic Sea. A directed long-line targeted fishery in Brittany has collapsed. This species is on the 2008 IUCN Red List as ' Endangered' . It also receives protection on Annex III of the Bern Convention and is on the UK List of Priority Species.