title: Seamount egg-laying grounds of the deep-water skate Bathyraja richardsoni.
abstract: Highly localized concentrations of elasmobranch egg capsules of the deep-water skate Bathyraja richardsoni were discovered during the first remotely operated vehicle (ROV) survey of the Hebrides Terrace Seamount in the Rockall Trough, north-east Atlantic Ocean. Conductivity-temperature-depth profiling indicated that the eggs were bathed in a specific environmental niche of well-oxygenated waters between 4·20 and 4·55° C, and salinity 34·95-35·06, on a coarse to fine-grained sandy seabed on the seamount's eastern flank, whereas a second type of egg capsule (possibly belonging to the skate Dipturus sp.) was recorded exclusively amongst the reef-building stony coral Solenosmilia variabilis. The depths of both egg-laying habitats (1489-1580 m) provide a de facto refuge from fisheries mortality for younger life stages of these skates.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Marine Biodiversity and Biotechnology, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, U.K.
authors.forename: L-A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Henry
authors.affiliation: ICHTHYS, Ichthyological Research Laboratory, Hildesheimer Weg 13, 22459, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: M F W
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Stehmann
authors.affiliation: Centre for Marine Biodiversity and Biotechnology, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, U.K.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Clippele
authors.affiliation: Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, West Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 3DH, U.K.
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Findlay
authors.affiliation: Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Monkstone House, City Road, Peterborough, PE1 1JY, U.K.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Golding
authors.affiliation: Centre for Marine Biodiversity and Biotechnology, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, U.K.|Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 South College Road, Wilmington, NC, 28403, U.S.A.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Roberts
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa; D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D017753:Ecosystem; D018940:Elasmobranchii; D005260:Female; D005398:Fisheries; D008297:Male; D010058:Oviposition; D010063:Ovum; D054712:Salinity; D012860:Skates, Fish; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D014867:Water
keywords: deep sea; elasmobranch; environment; habitat; reproduction