Small-eyed ray in Western Channel, Irish and Celtic Seas and West of Scotland, Demersal otter trawl

Small-eyed ray (Raja microocellata) is found on the inner continental shelf in the east Atlantic from the south-western coasts of the British Isles to northern Morocco (Stehmann and Bürkel, 1984). It is locally abundant in the Bristol Channel and parts of the English Channel (Ellis et al., 2005). It is an inshore demersal species, inhabiting the inner continental shelf waters down to a depth of about 100 m (Ellis et al., 2005). It is usually found on sandy substrates, favouring sandy bays and sand banks (), with shallow, sandy bays in the northern Bristol Channel acting as important nursery grounds (Kaiser et al., 2004; Ellis et al., 2005).