Sea creatures wash up on a beach?

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Sea creatures wash up on a beach?

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Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the best few days to be at the beach if you were near the ocean. Stubborn southerly winds gusting up to 30 knots were blowing sand in your face and creating strong chop on the water.

Yet, the sun was strong and a breezy day at the beach is still better than a few inches of snow, especially after a brutal winter. We await summer and its finally here.

For me, beach walking is always a delight no matter the weather. I can always find something sweet while walking along the edge of the ocean. Two high tides and two low tides nearly every day constantly bring something curious to uncover near the entrance to New York Harbor.

This weekend wouldn’t be any different, but I wouldn’t be alone in finding something wild and wonderful. A local kid came up to me and excitedly said, “I got something for you to look at. I think a small string ray washed up on the beach!” I didn’t believe it at first, thinking it must be something else. Many string rays can only be found in tropical waters, and with local ocean temperatures still chilly in the mid 50s, it was unlikely the creature was a ray.

I walked to the edge of the beach and there it was lying on the sand. A fish that indeed looked exactly like a string ray. But in fact it was a Clearnose Skate.

No, not a roller-skate or an ice-skate or even a skateboard. Skates are flat, cartilaginous fishes, related to rays and sharks. Although skates and rays look similar at first glance, in general, skates tend to be round or triangular in shape, while rays are kite-shaped and have sleek tails with one or more venomous barbs.

Skates should never be confused with man-eating sharks or deadly stingrays that get all the bad press. These rather shy and small (usually less than three feet in length from the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail) are rather docile sea creatures. Skates are usually much more interested in feeding on fishes, crabs, worms, and shrimp, then taking a bite on your leg.

The poor creature along with a few more skates were all strewn across the shoreline. Alll clearly dead, probably the bycatch of early morning surf fishermen. Almost certainly trying to catch a bigger prize of flounder, bass or bluefish for a Memorial Day barbecue. Yet, despite its weird looks, skates are actually be pretty good to eat. The meat is tender and tasty, and because skates have cartilage, there are no bones to fuss with.

Skates do have sharp skin, and if not carefully handled you can get jabbed by a scared skate’s tail as it whips away. Skates often have sharp spines or thorns on tails and bodies. The good news is that the chances a person will ever encounter a live skate in the water while swimming is pretty low. You are more likely to find evidence of skates washed up among the debris in a tide line.

Empty skate egg cases may also wash up on the beach. These dark, blackish containers are sometimes called “mermaid's purses,” which is probably true; I have seen mermaids use them to put keys inside, ha!

Finding a skate egg case is good evidence of skate activity in the water. An egg case forms around each individual skate embryo just before the mother deposits the cases on the sea floor. When the time comes for the young skate to leave its egg case (anywhere from 3-15 months), the container splits open at one end and the young fish swims away.

Little is actually known about the life of a skate. There is much mystery how long they live and the average number of offspring a single fish may have during its lifetime, among other questions. For a sea creature that swims near New York City it’s shocking how little we know about our skate population.