Stephanie Guyotte, UR- Where do you want to live?

Hello everyone,
This is my proposal for my research project if you have any questions please feel free to leave them in the comments section.

What is known and unknown about clearnose skates-



Clearnose Skate

The clearnose skate or Raja eglanteria are found on the eastern coast of the United States from Massachusetts to the northern end of gulf of Mexico. The skate can withstand water temperatures between 5-27℃, salinity of 12-35ppt, are benthic, and can be found in estuaries and inshore at depths around 100m but have been found up to 330m. The clearnose skate is identifiable by some of the following characteristics; translucent patch of sink around the nose, a single row of thrones along the mid-ridge on dorsal side from shoulders to end of tail, vary in color but will have darker spots and bars on dorsal side and plain white on ventricle side. Males have a pair of claspers and females are oviparous (lay eggs). The skate is often caught as bycatch by commercial fishermen during otter trawling. The clearnose skate is studied widely in captivity, but currently natural habitat and population is not well known.  
Scientific Question-
What type of habitat holds the highest concentration of Raja eglanteria (clearnose skate)?

Methods and materials-

Inshore Habitat (google)

Mangrove Habitat (google)

Estuary Habitat (google)

  Using fishing gear, I will be fish at three different habitats; inshore, estuary, and mangrove to look for clearnose skates. The following measurements will be taken; salinity and temperature of the deep water (because this is where the skates are found), weather conditions, time, sex, body dimensions (wing to wing and tip of nose to tip of tail), overall appearance, and location. Whatever bycatch I catch will be noted as well. I will catching and releasing everything. To find salinity, a sample will be collected with a brown Nalgene bottle from as close to the bottom as possible by lowering the bottle with the lid on into the water column then open the lid letting the deep water flow in. Then the sample will be brought back to the lab (stored in the refrigerator) and tested using the refractometer. Temperature will be found using a waterproof thermometer attached to a fishing pole and casted out to reach the deep water. Location and weather can be found using a cell phone. Sex can be determined by the presents or lack of claspers. Body dimensions will be measured with a sewing tape measure.



Interpretation-
My main focus is to look at the clearnose skate population at different location. However with all the information I am gathering, I might find other interesting connections like the different in coloration of skates from an inlet population Vs the onshore skates.

This is a possible graph that could be used to represent the data collected (this is NOT real data).

References

        Miller, M. 2013. "Raja eglanteria" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed March 30, 2017 at http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Raja_eglanteria/

Ha, D., Luer, C. & Sulikowski, J. 2009. Raja eglanteria. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2009: e.T161658A5474334. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009-2.RLTS.T161658A5474334.en.