Rays were swimming in our seas when dinosaurs walked along British shores.
The undulate ray (Raja undulata) can still be found along the Jurassic Coast, but little is known about their habits and movements. We aim to discover more about their life in the wild by collating and recording information from their natural habitat. Although commonly referred to as “rays” they are technically a skate, part of the Elasmobranch class of cartilaginous fish that includes all sharks, rays and skate therefore are sometimes called undulate skate or referred to as flat sharks.
Repeatedly seen in some Dorset locations, each individual ray can be identified from photographs using image recognition software to analyse the unique pattern on their dorsal side.
We have recorded their return to specific sites over several years. Interestingly, not only do individual rays return to a site but combinations appearing at similar times suggest they may travel or come back together in regular groups.
To learn more visit our project website
