FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



59 



summer and of stranding on the beaches, where dried skate carcasses are often to 

 be seen. It occurs all along the coasts from the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Nova 

 Scotia to Cape Cod, and much farther south. It is very abundant both on the New 

 Brunswick and the Scotian sides of the Bay of Fundy, and is taken everywhere and 

 anywhere along the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts, far more commonly, in- 

 deed, than one might suspect from the few definite records that have found their 

 way into scientific literature. To what extent it enters into the skate population 

 of the offshore banks is as yet unknown. 



The little skate carries out a more or less definite migration up into shoal water 

 in April and May, where it remains throughout the summer, autumn, and early 

 winter, to return again to somewhat deeper water, say 30 to 50 fathoms, in Decem- 



Fig. 22.— Little skate (Raja erinacea). After Garman 



ber or January. In summer it is perhaps most numerous at depths of from 5 to 

 15 fathoms, many even following the shelving bottom up to within a few feet of 

 low-water mark. Others, however, lie deeper. It has been trawled at 25 fathoms 

 even in midsummer, for example. On Georges Bank it is probably to be found at 

 30 to 40 fathoms throughout the year, and there is no reason to suppose that it 

 ever descends to any greater depth than this. It is common knowledge that skates 

 are most abundant on sandy or pebbly bottom; however, they are likewise found 

 on mud and over ledges. They bite the hook readily, affording amusement to 

 vacationists. 



Food. — Little skates are omnivorous. Hermit and other crabs, shrimps, 

 worms, amphipods, ascidians ("sea squirts"), bivalve mollusks, squid, small fishes, 

 and even such tiny objects as copepods have been found in their stomachs. Prob- 



