Raja montagui (Fowler 1910), Spotted ray (Rajidae)

Author: Ronald Fricke, Germany

1. Description of the habitat/autecology of the species

The spotted ray Raja montagui is a demersally living ray species living on soft bottoms from shallow waters to 100 m depth. Spawning time is unknown; the species is oviparous and deposits its egg-case on sand or mud flats. About 24-60 eggs are laid by an individual in a year. The species mainly feeds on crustaceans (Froese & Pauly, 2005). Maximum total length 80 cm.

2. Distribution (past and present)

Occasionally observed in the Kattegat. Outside the HELCOM area, the species is found from the Shetland Islands and the North Sea south to Mauritania, including the western Mediterranean.

3. Importance (sub-regional, Baltic-wide, global)

According to the definition in HELCOM (2007), this species is considered to be of local importance in the HELCOM area.

4. Status of threat/decline

In the HELCOM area, this species is classified as endangered (EN) according to IUCN criteria and as a HELCOM high priority species (HELCOM, 2007). The species is listed as a priority species under the OSPAR list (Anonymous, 2004). It is not listed on the IUCN global red list and populations are considered to be stable or increasing in the Northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean (ICES, 2006).

5. Threat/decline factors

Threatened by habitat loss (negative effects of sand and gravel extractionand trawling), eutrophication (since the species needs clean oxygenated sand or mud bottoms where it can bury and breathe), and fisheries (as by-catch in demersal fisheries). It is now rare, and sensitive to human activities, but not a keystone species.

6. Options for improvement

As major threats for the species occur outside the HELCOM area in the neighbouring OSPAR area, OSPAR could be requested to consider providing additional protection for this species.

7. References

Anonymous 2004. 2004 Initial OSPAR List of Threatened and/or Declining Species and Habitats (References number 2004-06). OSPAR Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-east Atlantic, Meeting of the OSPAR Commission (OSPAR), Reykjavik, 28 June-1 July 2004.

Froese R. & Pauly D. (eds) 2005. FishBase. Available in: www.fishbase.org, version (11/2005).

HELCOM 2007. HELCOM Red list of threatened and declining species of lampreys and fish of the Baltic Sea. Baltic Sea Environmental Proceedings, No. 109, 40 pp.  Available in: http://www.helcom.fi/stc/files/Publications/Proceedings/bsep109.pdf

ICES. 2006. Report of the Working Group on Elasmobranch Fishes (WGEF), 14–21 June

2006, ICES Headquarters. ICES CM 2006/ACFM:31. 291 pp.