Mermaid’s Purse

I am observing an influx of rectangular egg sacs belonging to the Winter Skate species.  I counted 6 today at the Big Club and South Beach.

Similar looking to the Ray, the Skate is also flattened from back to belly and appears to have “wings”. The species differ though with the Ray bearing live young.

Winter Skate are currently harvested commercially -their wings considered tasty.

The population is often affected by offshore Scallop trawls and can end up as bycatch.