Skates have life history characteristics that may make them vulnerable to over-exploitation. This concern that prompted the editors to organize an international symposium on the 'Biology of Skates', in order to bring together an international group of researchers to meet, discuss, perhaps develop collaborations, and present their most recent findings. The symposium was held over two days, on 13-14 July, 2006, in conjunction with the 22nd annual meeting of the American Elasmobranch Society in New Orleans. 31 authors from four countries contributed 16 papers that appear in this volume. The papers are broadly arranged into four separate categories: systematics and biogeography, diet and feeding ecology, reproductive biology, and age and growth.
From the reviews: "Ebert & Sulikowski have crafted an essential ichthyological reference and certainly set the stage for future studies into skates, which hopefully will be prompted by studying this volume. I enjoyed both reading this book and gaining deeper insights into the biology of skates. ! This is the most up to date collection of works on skates ! . a standard reference work for those interested in the biology of sharks, rays and skates in general and should be accessible in all life science libraries." (Jurgen Kriwet, Zoosystematics and Evolution, Vol. 86 (2), 2010)