Typically, skates are groundfish, often lying partially buried in sand or gravel which is the type of bottom they generally prefer. To bury themselves they stir the sand or gravel by movements of their pectorals, thus, allowing it to fall back upon them. They swim rather slowly unless violently disturbed, when they can advance with astonishing speed. Very little is known about whether they are preyed upon by other animals or if the egg capsules are preyed upon. There is no information on record of skates or capsules being in the stomachs of many other species on which detailed stomach analysis has been done, so it appears their main enemy is man with his fishing gear.
Skates are strictly carnivorous and feed mostly at night.
Their diet consists chiefly of crabs, shrimps, small crustacea such as amphipods, isopods, mysids, and various polychaete worms. They also eat small fish of various kinds, and coepholopods. A skate cannot capture active animals by direct attack because of the ventral position of its mouth. It kills by darting suddenly forward and settling down over its prey. The Fishery Skate landings have fluctuated over the years and fishing for skate has been mainly by foreign trawlers.