64 



BULLETIN OP THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



23. Brier skate {Raja eglanteria Bosc) 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 71. 

 Garman, 1913, p. 341. 



Description. — The brier, like the prickly skate, is armed with a row of stout 

 thorns along the midline of the back from shoulder to dorsal fin near the tip of tail. 

 Otherwise, however, it is a much smoother species and its snout is more acute. 

 There are groups of large spines opposite and behind the eyes and on the sides of 

 the tail, with a pair on each shoulder. Elsewhere the upper surface of the disk 



Fig. 25. — Brier skate {Raja eglanteria). After Garman 



bears only very small but very sharp prickles, these being most numerous on the 

 anterior parts of the pectorals, over the head and snout, and on the middle of the 

 back and tail among the larger thorns, whence its common name. The males, 

 we might add, are provided with several rows of large erectile hooks on the outer 

 parts of the pectorals, which the females lack. The snout angle is roughly a right 

 angle, its margin bulging less opposite the eyes than in any of the blunter-nosed 



