Like sharks, skates have a primitive skeleton that is made of cartilage instead of bones.
Skates have a disc shaped body with two wings that are used for swimming, and a long thin tail.
In fact, many science fiction movies and television shows have depicted futuristic underwater vehicles designed with the graceful and efficient body shape of skates and rays in mind. Several different species of skates are common in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Two of these species, the Winter Skate and the Thorny Skate, are commonly used for food. Skates can be found from shallow waters along the coast to depths of 2,000 feet or more. Although they are not known to undertake large-scale migrations, they are thought to move offshore during the summer and fall, and inshore during the winter and spring.