Rare egg is ‘Ireland’s answer to Faberge’

A rescued rare egg laid by a critically endangered flapper skate fish is incubating in the country’s largest aquarium as they await the precious arrival.

Fishermen on a trawler in Cork recognised the embryo was alive after they hauled the egg up in their nets in the past week.

Dingle Oceanworld Aquarium is acting as a nursery for the live embryo — cased in an apron-like egg case with four short horns at each corner — until the impending arrival.

“It’s like Ireland’s answer to a Faberge egg,” said marine biologist Kevin Flannery.

The flapper skate, which has been hunted to near extinction, can grow 2m wide and can weigh over 100kg.

“These eggs are very, very rare now. These fish were very common in Irish waters years ago — but anglers went after them, similar to the way big elephants were hunted,” said Mr Flannery. “They’re beautiful creatures and they have been wiped out in western Europe. There are small numbers left in Scotland, and even smaller numbers here in Ireland.

“They were all caught as trophy catches, as well as being hauled in as bycatch. We used to get these eggs every year — but this is the first time in three years a trawler has found one.”

Flapper skate — a member of the shark family — can live to be 100 years old. They have been categorised as ‘critically endangered’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

“They are so easy to catch along the bottom and they get stuck in nets,” explained Flannery.

“There was an adult one caught in Howth recently, and released back into the water, but that was very rare. We’re hoping to find their nest sites so we can protect their eggs.

“Fishermen here want to protect them. About 90pc of those that we talk to are releasing them. But we do have worries, because they’re popular on the menus in France and Belgium.”

Mr Flannery was notified about the embryo by UCC, after the college was contacted by the trawlermen.

“They contacted them because it wasn’t an empty egg case, the embryo was alive. They would have caught it on the stony ground outside of Cork Harbour.”

He said the university is already occupied with incubating smaller eggs known as mermaid’s purses.

“Sharks and rays lay their eggs in the March tide and some hatch out quickly and others — like the flapper skate — can take a long time.”

The aquarium will be watching over the maturing embryo for as long as 10 months. They will be able to see the young pup (as it is called) moving in the egg in the coming months.

The embryos, measuring around three or four inches, curl up with their moving tails and pelvic fins visible just before they are ready to hatch.

“Years ago, Fungi ate an egg from a cat shark and the following day the one thing that came out in the faeces was the catshark egg cases. It’s that strong.”

He urged the public to keep their eyes peeled for the purse-like egg cases over the Easter holidays.

“Flapper skates are 14 or 15 years old before they have their first egg, so they’re very precious. Northwestern European waters are one of their last breeding sites,” he said.