Little Skate
Raja erinacea
Size: to 21" long
Habitat: Soft sandy bottoms, in depths from shallows to 300 ft.
Notes:
The commonest inshore skate. Short tail with two fins but no stinger. Winter Skate similar but larger, to 3 ft.
Compare head and body shape with flounders.
Skates and rays are related to sharks. Unlike flounders, these fish are flattened and lie on their bellies. Skates are harmless. Stingrays have one or more dangerous barbed stingers in the tail and will use them if molested. Finally, the Torpedo is an electric fish and can generate enough voltage to be dangerous. Some skates give birth to live young, while others lay their eggs encased in a horned Mermaid's Purse.
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Morone saxatilis
Profile by Thomas Baum,
Senior Fisheries Biologist
Common Name:
Striped Bass, also called Rockfish, Rock, Striper, and Linesider
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Stentotomus chrysops
Profile by Stacey Reap
Range:
Scup have been found along the Atlantic coast from the Bay of Fundy and Sable Island Bank, Canada, to as far south as Florida; however, the greatest concentrations can be found from Massachusetts to North Carolina. Depending upon the season, they can be found from coastal waters and estuaries out to depths of approximately 650 ft. along the outer continental shelf. A separate population of scup referred to as the "southern porgy" or S. aculeatus, is referenced in several South Atlantic Bight studies; however, there is no official differentiation made between the two populations by the American Fisheries Society.
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