Skate, the pier at Oak Island, NC

Skate, the pier at Oak Island 2, NC, originally uploaded by da_mere.

Once, when we were walking up and down the Commercial Pier in Fort Lauderdale, mom and I saw a baby hammerhead shark that had just been caught by one of the fishermen. Now, each time we walk a pier we wonder if we'll see a baby hammerhead.

While we didn't see a shark this time, we did see a skate that had been caught several hours earlier. Here he is. The tail had been cut off, but he still looked threatening.

Frequently, the fishermen told us, these skates are used in place of scallops. They cut round bits out of the skate and use them as scallops. However, this particular skate would be used for shark bait. Scary.