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ISRA FACTSHEETS

EUROPEAN ATLANTIC

ISRA FACTSHEETS

EUROPEAN ATLANTIC

Princess Alice Bank ISRA

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Princess Alice Bank ISRA

Princess Alice Bank

Summary

Princess Alice Bank is located in the Azores Archipelago, Portugal. The shallowest point of this offshore seamount is its steep summit which reaches a depth of 30 m. The area is characterised by temperate conditions as a result of the confluence of the North Atlantic Current and the Azores Current. Within this area there are: threatened species and reproductive areas (Sicklefin Devil Ray Mobula tarapacana).

Princess Alice Bank

Princess Alice Bank

DESCRIPTION OF HABITAT

Princess Alice Bank is located in the Azores Archipelago. The Azores are a Portuguese archipelago situated in the mid-north Atlantic Ocean. The area is found 92.6 km to the southwest of Pico Island and 83.3 km to the southwest of Faial Island. This offshore seamount extends in a northwest-southeast direction and is about 70 km long and approximately 25 km wide with its steep summit reaching a depth of 30 m.

The area is characterised by temperate conditions as a result of the confluence of the North Atlantic Current and the Azores Current. Sea surface temperatures are lower in boreal winter and higher in summer with chlorophyll-a concentrations showing the opposite pattern (Santos et al. 2013; Amorim et al. 2017).

This Important Shark and Ray Area is pelagic and is delineated from 0–600 m based on the bathymetry of the area.

CRITERION A

VULNERABILITY

One Qualifying Species considered threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species regularly occurs in the area. This is the Endangered Sicklefin Devil Ray (Marshall et al. 2022).

CRITERION C

SUB-CRITERION C1 – REPRODUCTIVE AREAS

Princess Alice Bank is an important reproductive area for one ray species.

Pregnant female Sicklefin Devil Rays occur regularly and predictably in the area in larger numbers than in other places across the species distribution (except for Ambrósio Seamount, also located in the Azores; Sobral 2013; A Sobral unpubl. data 2025). Between 1990–2024, photo-identification data collected from underwater visual census and citizen science (on a daily basis, weather permitting) revealed Sicklefin Devil Ray aggregations in the area composed of 7–15 individuals on average with a maximum of 45 individuals recorded at any one time (Sobral 2013; Solleliet-Ferreira et al. 2020; A Sobral unpubl. data 2025). Since 2012, pregnancy has been consistently assessed and was assigned to an individual when a noticeable distended abdomen was observed in photographs. However, depending on the angle from which the picture was taken, pregnancy may be difficult to assess, suggesting that the proportion of pregnant females is likely to be underestimated (A Sobral unpubl. data 2025). Of 103 individuals identified by photo-identification in the area, 36 were females, 49 males, and 18 undetermined. Ten of these females (27%) were pregnant and occurred in the area between June–October (Sobral 2013; Sobral & Afonso 2014). The area is important for the gestation of this species as females in different stages of gestation are found in the area with extended abdomens growing noticeably bigger as the summer advances (A Sobral unpubl. data 2025). Additionally, five females have been resighted across multiple years (1–8 years between resighting) in this area with three observed during different pregnancies up to seven years apart, indicating that this location provides refuge and/or ideal conditions for gestating females (A Sobral unpubl. data 2025). One pregnant female recorded in this area in 2011 was resighted pregnant in 2017 in Ambrosio Seamount, ~450 km southeast from this area (A Sobral unpubl. data 2025). Females are also regularly observed with mating scars (healed) and recorded males are all adults or sub-adults. Courtship behaviour has also been observed in the area (A Sobral unpubl. data 2025), although it does not seem to be a consistent behaviour (A Sobral unpubl. data 2025). There are no records of neonate, young-of-the-year, or juveniles in the area.

Princess Alice Bank

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