A confusion of names in the tricky business of eating skate or ray
By Lewis Smith
August 06 2012 Lewis Smith
Ordering skate or ray is an uncertain business. There are more than a dozen commercial species in UK waters but it is often unclear which is on offer.
It doesn’t help that many of them look near identical but confusion is created even by the names of the fish because all the commercially caught “rays” in UK waters are actually types of skate. Sandy and undulate rays, for example, are really small-bodied skate.
There are true rays in UK waters – including the common stingray, the electric ray and the marbled torpedo ray - but none are found in large enough numbers for a commercial fishery to have developed.
Yet the species of skate that are known as skate – such as the long-nosed skate – are off the menu because concern about their numbers has led to them being banned from market.
Ali Hood, of the Shark Trust, said there is considerable confusion about what can and can’t be eaten because of the problem of name: “The issue in the UK is primarily a problem of nomenclature. Some people are concerned to see skate on a menu, but in reality the fish on offer will be the smaller skate species which here in the UK we called ray!
“Common, white, black and long-nosed skate are large-bodied species which are vulnerable to trawling activity and have been historically caught and eaten in large numbers. Consumers should take some comfort in the knowledge that these highly vulnerable species are currently prohibited for landing.”
The picture is further confused because the common skate was recently agreed by scientists to be two separate species, the blue and the flapper skates. They are still, however, usually referred to as the common skate.
For the skates and “rays” for which there are fisheries around the UK and other parts of Europe there are large differences in sustainability.
For the four species of skate – common, longnose, white and black – concerns about their numbers are so great that their capture has been banned in virtually all of the UK’s and western Europe’s waters.
In the nineteenth century common skate were, as the name suggests, common but are now struggling so badly that they are classified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as critically endangered. The decline of white skate, classified as endangered, and long-nosed and black – also known as Norwegian – skate has not been quite so catastrophic but there are nevertheless serious concerns about them.
Under what was first a voluntary agreement by most UK fishermen and later a Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) regulation their capture has been all but outlawed and they are listed as prohibited species under the CFP.
Which ray it is that is served up in restaurants is another question and many of the fish look so similar that even fishermen can find it difficult to distinguish between them. Special identification charts have been produced to help fishermen know which species they’ve caught.
While the Marine Conservation Society has concerns about several species of ray, categorising them as “fish to avoid” on its rating system with a score of 5, there are five that it accepts can be eaten occasionally, at least for some of the stocks.
The species that MCS is happiest about are the smaller ray species, cuckoo, starry and spotted rays which all have ratings of ‘3’ in at least one fishery.
In its scoring system fish that get a score of ‘3’ are considered to be fish that can be eaten occasionally. Those with a ‘4’ are classed as being fished unsustainably but aren’t doing so badly as to warrant a recommendation that they should not be eaten at all.
Cuckoo and spotted are rated 3 by the MCS for the Celtic Sea and ‘4’ for the Bay of Biscay and Iberian waters. Cuckoo rays are additionally rated ‘3’ in the Skagerrat area off the Swedish and Norwegian coast.
Starry rays get a ‘3’ rating in the North Sea, Skagerrak and Eastern Channel but those from the Bay of Biscay and Iberian waters are ‘5’, making them fish to avoid.
Two other species, small-eyed and thornback rays, are rated ‘4’ when they come from the Celtic Sea. Under the MCS rating system this means they can be eaten very occasionally but are not regarded as a good choice for the table. However, when they are taken from the Bay of Biscay and Iberian waters they score ‘5’ and are treated as fish to avoid.
Four other ray species assessed by the MCS are each classified as fish that should be kept off the menu wherever they are caught. They are blonde, sandy, shagreen and undulate rays.
Skates and rays, both of which are closely related to sharks, are similarly built, the main physical difference being that skates produce eggs in ‘mermaids’ purses’ while rays give birth to live young. The International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) is expected to published fresh data on the status of the skate and ray stocks later this year. Once the data has been analysed by the MCS the ratings could be altered to take account of new information.
Should we eat mackerel? See here.
Should we eat cod? See here.
Should we eat eel? See here.
MCS ratings for skates and “rays”:
Blonde.........................................................5
Cuckoo
Celtic Sea and Skagerrak.....................3
Bay of Biscay and Iberian waters..........4
Sandy..........................................................5
Shagreen......................................................5
Smalleyed
Celtic Sea..........................................4
Bay of Biscay and Iberian waters..........5
Spotted
Celtic Sea..........................................3
Bay of Biscay and Iberian waters..........4
Starry
Bay of Biscay and Iberian waters..........5
North Sea, Skagerrak, Eastern Channel.3
Thornback
Celtic Sea..........................................4
Bay of Biscay and Iberian waters..........5
Undulate.......................................................5
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