Endangered Species Act Status Review Report for The Graytail Skate (Bathyraja griseocauda)

This status review report was conducted in response to a petition received from WildEarth Guardians on July 8, 2013 to list 81 marine species as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). NMFS evaluated the petition to determine whether the petitioner provided substantial information that the petitioned action may be warranted, as required by the ESA. In a Federal Register notice on February 24, 2014 (79 FR 10104), NMFS determined that the petition did present substantial scientific and commercial information, or cited such information in other sources, that the petitioned action may be warranted for 10 species of skates and rays and 15 species of bony fishes, and thus NMFS initiated a status review of those species. This status review report considers the biology, distribution, and abundance of and threats to one skate species from the Southwestern Atlantic, Bathyraja griseocauda (graytail skate).