Little is still known about the biology and ecology of many elasmobranchs which often inhibits species specific management measures from being implemented. The primary aim of this study was to improve the knowledge on the distribution and habitat use of the threatened and data deficient shagreen ray, Leucoraja fullonica, using fisheries dependent data. To model its distribution, we used Bayesian hierarchical modelling, taking into consideration imperfect capture from the non-random nature of fishing gear type and spatial autocorrelation. Our second objective was to identify the potential functional role of the high occurrence area by analysing spatial length segregation using a generalised additive mixed model.

From five environmental variables, depth, distance to coast, and seabed sediment type were used to model its habitat. L. fullonica was found to mainly inhabit an area of high concentration between the southern Celtic Seas and the northern Bay of Biscay. Within this area, smaller individuals were found in the deeper south-western part and larger individuals in shallower waters, closer to the coast, suggesting ontogenetic shift or spawning migration. L. fullonica were mainly caught by bottom trawl fishing gears. The isolated habitat occupancy of this species may increase its vulnerability, particularly since high fishing pressure has been observed in this area. These results highlight the importance of fisheries-dependent data for data-poor species and provide valuable new information on its ecology when considering management or conservation measures at a species level.

许多弹性鳃类动物的生物学和生态学仍然知之甚少，这通常会阻碍物种特定管理措施的实施。本研究的主要目的是利用与渔业相关的数据，提高对受威胁和数据不足的鲱鱼Leucoraja fullonica 的分布和栖息地利用的了解。为了对其分布进行建模，我们使用贝叶斯分层建模，考虑到渔具类型的非随机性质和空间自相关的不完美捕获。我们的第二个目标是通过使用广义加性混合模型分析空间长度分离来确定高发区的潜在功能作用。

从五个环境变量中，深度、到海岸的距离和海底沉积物类型被用来模拟其栖息地。L. fullonica被发现主要栖息在南部凯尔特海和北部比斯开湾之间的高浓度区域。在该区域内，较小的个体在较深的西南部分发现，较大的个体在较浅的水域，靠近海岸，表明个体发生转变或产卵迁移。L. fullonica主要被底拖网渔具捕获。该物种的孤立栖息地占用可能会增加其脆弱性，特别是因为在该地区观察到高捕捞压力。这些结果强调了依赖渔业的数据对于数据匮乏物种的重要性，并在考虑物种层面的管理或保护措施时提供了有关其生态学的有价值的新信息。