Recently continuous rational maps between real algebraic varieties have attracted the attention of several researchers. In this paper we continue the investigation of approximation properties of continuous rational maps with values in spheres. We propose a conjecture concerning such maps and show that it follows from certain classical conjectures involving transformation of compact smooth submanifolds of nonsingular real algebraic varieties onto subvarieties. Furthermore, we prove our conjecture in a special case and obtain several related results. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.