Flapper skates make a recovery in Scottish waters Research by Heriot-Watt University suggests that flapper skate numbers are on the increase.

The critically endangered #FlapperSkate is making a comeback in and around the #LochSunart and Sound of Jura Marine Protected Area 🌊🐟 after commercial fishing of the species was banned in 2009 🎣. About half of fishers across Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 say they are now seeing flapper skates almost every day 👀.

🙌 Successful Flapper Skate Egg-case Hunt on Friday with Tattie!
Fifteen found which isn’t bad for the Scottish mainland! A few interesting ones and some with evidence of potential predation 🐚 🐙 🦀

#flapperskate #eggcase #spaniel #coast #marinelife #scotland

NatureScot Research Report 1390 - Local ecological knowledge from the Scottish fishing fleet on the critically endangered flapper skate (Dipturus intermedius) NatureScot Research Report 1390 - Local ecological knowledge from the Scottish fishing fleet on the critically endangered flapper skate (Dipturus intermedius)

⬆️ In short fishermen (operating from Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Macduff, Pittenweem, Lerwick, Scalloway, Eyemouth, Troon, Stornoway, Ullapool and Mallaig) reported a significant increase in Flapper Skate numbers over the last 4 yrs 👍

#flapperskate #marinelife

www.nature.scot/doc/naturesc...

‼️ 🦈 Hundreds of species of highly threatened UK wildlife are left without much needed legal protection as the UK government opt not to act on the definitive findings of the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

This includes: Critically Endangered #blueskate #flapperskate & Porbeagle #shark

Animal tracking with particle algorithms informs protected area design Particle algorithms strengthen the value of acoustic telemetry for conservation.

🖋️ “…we pioneer the application of particle algorithms for conservation with a case study of the Critically Endangered flapper skate (Dipturus intermedius)”

#flapperskate #MPA #animaltracking #conservation #marinelife
🌊 🦈

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A team of researchers has succeeded in tracing the hidden paths of #flapperskate on the seabed around #Scotland using a new combination of data and statistical methods. This information helps to designate suitable protected areas for these critically endangered #fish.

👉 www.eawag.ch/en/info/port...

🦈 Packing a bag for the #EEA2025 (European Elasmobranch Association) conference, including some #flapperskate eggcases for an exhibition at the Rotterdam Oceanium!
🚨 Will i get quizzed going through airport security?? Place your bets now! 😆

@markdeboer.bsky.social
@whysharksmatter.bsky.social

🧵 ⚠️ Yesterday in my role with Shark & Skate Scotland I attended the Flapper Skate that stranded on Montrose Beach.
We were able to attend quite quickly and perform the necropsy (see photos in thread).

#flapperskate #research #necropsy #elasmobranch #science #education #marinelife

🌊 🦈 🧪

Inshore areas recognised for flapper skate and thornback rays TWO INSHORE areas in Shetland are set to be awarded status as important shark and ray areas (ISRAs). Researchers at UHI Shetland led the submissions, for an...

Researchers at UHI Shetland led the submissions, for an area for flapper skate in the Fair Isle area and one for thornback ray in the Swarbacks Minn area.

🦈 🌊 #marinelife #flapperskate #thornbackskate #elasmobranch

www.shetnews.co.uk/2025/08/06/i...

An interesting new open access paper which considerably adds to existing baseline population & distribution data of the #flapperskate identifying 3 core regions likely reflecting natural refugia.

🧪 🦈 🌊

@whysharksmatter.bsky.social

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

🙌 Well done to our volunteers from the ‘Engage Service’, part of the Aberdeen Foyer charity!
Today they took part in a beach clean, whilst concurrently conducting a #flapperskate eggcase search and then had a closer look at the beach sediment for microplastics!

#beachclean #engage #environment

New paper! We estimated the reproductive timing of the critically endangered #flapperskate by making use of a pre-existing #citizenscience photo ID database 📸 with @davemarinebio.glasgow.ac.uk @jathorburn.bsky.social Paper ⏩ doi.org/10.1111/jfb.... & summary below ⏬

This was the first live #flapperskate I encountered in 2021!
He appeared out of the silty seabed gloom at about 35m in Loch Sween 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
We set out to try and film the skate and had been diving all day, this was our final dive!

@whysharksmatter.bsky.social

🦑 🌊 🤿 🧪

#underwater #elasmobranch

Scotland's flapper skate In Scotland, the Edges of Earth expedition meets a team of researchers trying to find out more about the elusive flapper skate.

🤿 We are in @oceanographicmag.bsky.social 🙌
Check out this link to learn more about Flapper Skate, how Shark & Skate Scotland came about and what we have been working on at the Kilchoan Melfort Trust!

🌊 🧪 🦑

#flapperskate #shark #conservation

oceanographicmagazine.com/features/sco...

The utter contrast of Cairnbulg Beach never fails to astound me.
We have removed TONNES of #beachlitter from here over the years & still it comes ashore, & yet wading through it, I came across a hatched critically endangered #FlapperSkate #eggcase !
Exasperation and hope all rolled into one….

🌊 🧪

👀 I was up in Peterhead (Ugie Estuary) last Thursday for work. Several Flapper Skate empty eggcases and a Fairy Liquid bottle that is at least 54 years old!!!

🌊

#flapperskate

Nothing to see here… just a #catshark #starryskate and a #flapperskate #eggcase on the draining rack!

🌊 🧪 🦈

Ever wondered what #flapperskate teeth/jaws look like?
Here are a couple of images I took after performing a necropsy on a dead animal that washed onshore.
Like #sharks they have the “conveyor belt” replacement system.

#marinelife #scicomm 🧪

@whysharksmatter.bsky.social

Watch the moment a skate attacks a fisherman's boat off Shetland RNLI technician Paul Hutchison was out at sea at Muckle Roe when the large fish began to ram his boat.

👀 This is a new one, Flapper Skate chomps the side of a boat off Shetland…. Side of the RIB covered in bait gunk?!

#flapperskate #flatshark #marinelife #ukwildlife

www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

A fresh flapper skate eggcase landed by a fishing boat in Ullapool

A typical dried up flapper skate eggcase found on the beach at Balnakiel beach, Assynt.

Picture of Finlay, Ullapool Shark Ambassador, next to a huge female flapper skate that he found whilst cleaning the beach at Bay of Stoer, Assynt. The skate was atleast as wide and long as Finlay !

Came across this female flapper skate while cleaning Stoer Beach, Assynt. Was still pretty fresh & absolutely huge !

Also photos of flapper skate egg case which I recently found on Balchladich beach.

Amazing to think that it eventually grows into something so big !

#flapperskate #MarineLife!🦑

An unfortunate find of this deceased female #FlapperSkate at John O’Groats 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 yesterday.
Myself & my colleague had work commitments so were unable to attend, however, thanks to Ian Miller who reported the find, who then went above & beyond to take samples & measurements for research!
#marinelife

I am really enjoying bluesky! Great #science & #marinelife content!
Here’s a short clip of my favourite chance encounter with a female #flapperskate
Despite surveying egg-laying sites regularly for several yrs, this was my first time seeing an adult!
Thank you to my new followers 🙂
#scubadiving

🤿 Had a blast last weekend representing Shark & Skate Scotland, we were at the Kilchoan Melfort Trust & chatting all things #flapperskate with the Edges of Earth team!

Thanks for having us!

#underwater #flatsharks #scubadiving #communityscience #engagement #conservation

It’s that time of year when i start to free up some space on my phone & inadvertently revisit moments from earlier in the year…
Late June, excellent visibility, local dive site, the most beautiful #FlapperSkate !
My first underwater encounter with this #criticallyendangered elasmo!

#marinelife 🦑