Our Publications
Nursery bays and hidden rays: First insights into long-term monitoring of Bull Rays within the Maltese Archipelago
Based on our long term monitoring of bull ray populations around the Maltese Islands, helping to shed light on their breeding patterns and distribution.
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To summarise the findings, 135 individual rays were identified across 407 sightings. 97.7% of sightings were immature animals, and of those resighted, 90% displayed residency to the areas they were seen.
New records of angular rough sharks Oxynotus centrina in the coastal waters of Malta, with observations on post-capture resilience and release behaviour
The paper adds new records of O. centrina in Maltese waters, strengthening evidence that these sharks occur in relatively nearshore (but moderate depth) environments there.
It also shows that under certain capture‑and‑release conditions, individuals might show good recovery behaviour, which is encouraging from a conservation standpoint.
But the rarity of observations and uncertain long‑term fate of released animals means we should treat these findings as preliminary but significant.
