Blonde ray
Raja brachyura · Rays and skates
Also called blond ray
One of the biggest rays in British waters, usually found over sand and sandbanks. Mostly an offshore fish, but caught from the shore in Wales.[1]
How to recognise it
- Cream blotches and dark spots run right out to the wing tips and onto the tail. On a spotted ray the spots stop short of the wing edge.[2]
- Fairly short snout and wings with near right-angled outer corners.[2]
- Adults are prickly across the whole back; young fish are prickly only along the leading edges of the wings, so small ones are often mistaken for spotted rays.[2]
When and where
- Season
- Mar–Nov[1]
- Found over
- sand, sandbanks, mixed ground[1]
- Baits
- mackerel fillet, sandeel, squid, cuttlefish[1]
- Tide
- Fish a strong run of tide over sandbanks.[1]
Caught from early spring through summer, with September to November the peak.[1]
Sources
These notes are a draft: we gathered them from the sources above and are still checking them. We don't work out best times for this fish yet. The size rules come from the same checked byelaws as every other fish.