Eggcase stories
All skates, all chimaera and some sharks are oviparous (egg-laying). Once the egg has been deposited the mother does not invest any further parental care. The embryo is now on its own and nothing but a thin, leathery capsule protects the developing skate or shark until it is ready to hatch. Because shark eggs are attached to immotile seafans, seaweed or rocks, they are easy prey even for the smallest and slowest organisms given they can chew or bore through the capsule. Some