Elleda Wilson: Skating in
Nov. 17—"Look what the surf brought in!" the Seaside Aquarium posted on their Facebook page recently. "A big skate egg casing. Large surf can dislodge these egg casings from the seafloor and deposit them onto local beaches. Once washed, in these egg casings will dry out and the embryos inside will perish."
Big skates, which can reach 5 feet in width, produce an egg casing that is around 12 inches long, the aquarium noted, and can have anywhere from four to seven embryos inside.
"If found, (the casings) can be brought into the aquarium. We can provide the casing with a safe (haven) in one of our holding tanks while the embryos continue to develop. Once they hatch and are feeding well, they can be released into the wild.
"... We usually hold them ... for a few months (it takes approximately 11 months for the embryos to develop and hatch out) before we carefully open them to check on their progress.
"... Unfortunately, this one was not viable. The extremely large surf we had the past few days before the casing was found most likely damaged the casing." (Photo: Seaside Aquarium)
