66 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Figure 27. — Brier skate (Raja eglanteria), female, about 29 inches long, Woods Hole, Massachusetts. 



Schroeder. Drawing by E. N. Fischer. 



From Bigelow and 



Province town. Two specimens were taken on 

 Nantucket Shoals near Round Shoal buoy by the 

 Halcyon, one in July, the other in September, in 

 1924. 



Leopard skate Raja qarmani "Whitley 1939 



PiOSETTED SKATE 



Bigelow and Schroeder, 1953, p. 200. 

 Garman, 1913, pi. 18, fig. 2. 



Description. — The conspicuous dark rosettes on 

 the upper surface make this skate recognizable at 

 a glance, since no other skate of the western 

 Atlantic is marked in this way. And its tail is 

 longer relatively than that of any other Gulf of 

 Maine skate. 



The disc is considerably blunter in front than 

 a right angle, with anterior margins bulging 

 rather conspicuously a little anterior to the level 

 of the eyes; the outer corners of the pectorals are 

 very broadly rounded ; the tail measured from the 



center of the cloaca to the tip is about 1.5 times as 

 long as the body from tip of snout to center of 

 cloaca; and there is a definite gap with one or 

 two thorns between the two dorsal fins. 67 



There are thorns along the ridge of the snout; 

 a row around the inner and posterior margins of 

 the eyes with a few in the space between the latter; 

 a group on each shoulder; and one row along the 

 midbelt of the back and tail in young specimens, 

 increasing to 2 to 6 irregular rows in large ones. 

 In young specimens the skin of the disc, as a whole, 

 and of the tail, is also rough with small prickles, but, 

 most of these are lost with growth, leaving large 

 specimens mostly naked except for the thorns. 

 The lower surface is smooth. 



There are 46 to 52 series of teeth in the upper 

 jaw, a few less in the lower, and those of adult 

 males are only a little sharper than those of 

 females. 



Color. — The upper side is pale buff or brown, 



•' Carman's illustration is of an abnormal specimen with three dorsal fins. 



