Thornback Rays

[Sam Harris]

Steetley Pier, on Teesside has given a number of Thornback Rays over the last couple of weeks, mainly on mackerel strip. There have been fish to 8 lb taken. I can remember back in the 1950’s and 1960’s this species were regularly taken from the Durham coal beaches, such as the Blast Beach, Easington, Horden etc. The boats also took a fair number of them, but they seemed to go into decline - along with other species such as Spur Dog - off our coastline. Hopefully the Thornback is going to start appearing in other venues apart from Steetley. Incidentally they are also known as “Rokers”.