AN aquarium

in Oban thinks it has just achieved a world first. The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) says it has successfully incubated an egg from a critically endangered flapper skate.

There is no recorded case of such an egg being cared for from laying to hatching and it could pave the way for a breakthrough in saving the species, which was placed on the critically-endangered list in 2006.

The egg took 18 months to hatch and the baby skate was released in the Sound of Jura. It’s a great achievement for the scientists at SAMS, who have gathered huge amounts of information to help breeding programmes across the world. Well done.