Careful handling of the skate ‘ purses ’ was part of the study
Seasearch Scotland Coordinator , Karen Boswarva
I turned off my video lights and took a short movie clip of her as I swam very gently towards her . I then took a single photo – stupidly forgetting that my flash was set to auto . The flash spooked her , and she gracefully and smoothly moved off . I was able to follow her for a few seconds , take a couple more photos and then I settled on the seabed and watched her flap lazily into the distance . I was mesmerised . I returned to my buddy and we finished our dive . I literally whooped aloud when I reached the surface and I had a huge grin on my face for the rest of the day .
Hunting eggs
Fast-forward a few weeks and after discussing my sighting with an old colleague , Lauren Smith , we decided that we would try to find out more about the elusive flapper skate . We knew that many thousands of flapper skate purses – their rather huge egg cases – are found on various Orkney beaches and Lauren has found a few on the south coast of the Moray Firth . Very little , however , is known about where they lay their eggs . Following up on a throwaway comment by a friend who had mentioned a scallop diver finding a
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