Results on main elasmobranch species captured during the 2001-2010 Porcupine Bank (NE Atlantic) bottom trawl surveys

This paper presents the results on nine of the most important elasmobranch fish species of the Porcupine bank Spanish surveys during the last decade (2001-2010). The main species in the captures in decreasing biomass order are: blackmouth catshark, birdbeak dogfish, knifetooth dogfish, velvet belly, lesser spotted dogfish, bluntnose sixgill shark, sandy ray, cuckoo ray and common skate. Manyof these species occupy mainly the deep areas covered in the survey,especially birdbeak dogfish, knifetooth dogfish and velvet belly. Less confined to deeper grounds are blackmouth catshark and sandy ray, while lesser spotted dogfish and cuckoo ray inhabit mainly the shallowergrounds close to the Irish shelf or the central mound in the bank. Length distributions of these species along the survey series are also presented and discussed. The few available data on siki sharks from the Porcupine bank survey are also summarized.Versión del edito