Up until the 1926 blue skate were recognised as being an entirely separate species, before scientific opinion of the day decided that they were really just common skate. Not convinced, a few years ago CEFAS, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, instigated a tagging program and commissioned research to find out more about blue skate. Their results have confirmed that blue skate are indeed a separate species from common, or flapper skate, Dipturis intermedius. In 2010 blue skate were reclassified as being a separate genus, Dipturus
