The Ocellate Skate (Raja ackleyi) is a little known demersal skate found along the continental shelf and upper slope from 32?384 m depth off southern Florida, Cuba, southern Gulf of Mexico, and eastern Yucatán. It reaches at least 41 cm total length (TL), but little else is known of its biology. It is a potential bycatch of shrimp trawl fisheries operating on the shelf, but no specific information is available on its capture. Insufficient information is available to assess this species beyond Data Deficient at present. Bycatch levels should be quantified and monitored and this species should be reassessed when further information becomes available.
|Range Description:||Western central Atlantic: Recorded from southern Florida, Cuba, southern Gulf of Mexico, and eastern Yucatán (McEachran and Carvalho 2002).|
Native:Cuba; Mexico (Yucatán); United States (Florida)
|FAO Marine Fishing Areas:||
Atlantic – western central
|Range Map:||Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.|
|Population:||Population size is unknown.|
|Habitat and Ecology:||A demersal species found along the continental shelf and upper slope from 32?384 m depth (McEachran and Carvalho 2002).This species reaches a maximum size of at least 41 cm total length (TL) and mature males have been known at 41 cm TL (McEachran and Carvalho 2002), but may mature at a smaller size). It is presumably oviparous as in other skates, but little else is known of its biology.|
|Major Threat(s):||This species may be taken as bycatch by shrimp trawl fisheries, although no information on catches is available.|
There are no specific conservation measures in place at this time. Like many deepwater species, further biological, range and fisheries data are required to assess any future conservation needs. Where taken, catches require monitoring, particularly as deepwater fisheries expand worldwide.
The development and implementation of management plans (national and/or regional e.g., under the FAO International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks: IPOA-Sharks) are required to facilitate the conservation and management of all chondrichthyan species in the region.