Skate and ray:professional buying guide, species, skinned wings, season and auction prices

01

Buying sheet

Names and areas: Regulation (EU) 2026/249 (fishing opportunities 2026), Annex IA. Shares calculated by the editorial team from the sales declared at French fish auctions in 2024 (FranceAgriMer). These figures only cover fish sold at auction, not fish sold by private agreement.

02

Which rays are found on a price list?

• Thornback ray is the leading ray at French fish auctions: 2,152 t in 2024, sold mainly in Normandy and Hauts-de-France (Port-en-Bessin, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Fécamp, Cherbourg).
• Cuckoo ray is the ray of south Brittany: more than half of its sales go through Le Guilvinec.
• Blonde ray (raie lisse), which the fish auctions also call "blonde", is the most expensive of the five on average; it sells mainly in north and west Brittany (Saint-Quay-Portrieux, Roscoff, Brest, Audierne).
• Undulate ray has its own rules: separate quota in the English Channel, and landing allowed only for whole or gutted rays.
• Spotted ray is the rarest of the five at auction (297 t in 2024).

Once the wings are cut, and even more once skinned, the species can no longer be recognised by eye. A "skate wing" (aile de raie) line with no further detail gives neither the species nor the area: the label, with the scientific name, the catch area and the gear, is what counts.

03

Skinned or skin-on wings: what to order?

• The skin-on wing keeps its skin: it is skinned in the kitchen, and part of the weight bought goes to waste.
• The skinned wing is ready to cook: more expensive per kilo, it saves labour and trimming loss. Compare the two on the price of the portion served, not the price per kilo.
• The wing size decides the portion: a 300 to 500 g wing makes one plate, a wing of more than 1 kg is sliced.
• The whole ray is only worthwhile for a kitchen that does its own cutting: the central body, little used, is included in the price per kilo.

Yield varies with species, size and presentation: measure it on a few deliveries, skinned and skin-on, before setting the cost of the portion (see the food cost guide).

04

How to judge the freshness of a ray?

Skin covered with clear, abundant slime; pearly, firm, shiny flesh, with no pinkish or dull areas; supple wing that springs back into shape. A smell of ammonia signals a tired ray: refuse it. These are trade clues; the catch or delivery date and the cold chain count as much as appearance.

05

What to replace a ray with when it is short?

06

What makes the price of ray move?

Year 2024, all French fish auctions: average first-sale price at the auction hall, national, by species (FranceAgriMer, sales declared at fish auctions, workbook published on 2 July 2026). Spread between auctions: the cheapest and the most expensive of the auction halls handling at least 5% of the species' volumes. Prices given to the cent, given their level. The auction price applies to ray as landed, all presentations combined, and it is not the price paid to the fish merchant: wing cutting, skinning, processing, transport and margin are added to it.

Summer is the season of cheap ray, late winter that of expensive ray. For thornback ray, July 2024 was both the busiest month (238 t) and the cheapest (about €1.76/kg), while February, with 141 t, sold at around €3.09/kg. Across all species, French fish auctions sold 577 t of rays in July 2024 at about €1.90/kg, against 471 t in February at about €2.88/kg (editorial team's calculation). 2025 confirms the July low for thornback, blonde, undulate and spotted ray. Spreads between auctions stay small for the main species, a few tens of cents; they may come from size, quality or local outlets, and the workbook does not allow a conclusion.

• The season and landings: in summer, when landings are high, ray is cheapest; late winter is the most expensive. Tonnages do not explain everything: in November 2024, the weakest month (about 360 t across all species), it sold at around €2.50/kg, cheaper than in February.
• The species: blonde ray and spotted ray sell slightly higher than thornback and cuckoo ray.
• The presentation: the wing, and even more the skinned wing, costs much more per kilo than the whole ray, since only part of it is kept.
• The wing size: large, thick wings sell above small ones.
• Quotas: shared between species and set each year by area, they cap landings.