78 GIANT FISHES 



has studied their habits on the Carolina coast, notes that the 

 species found there " gives birth to its young in pairs of two 

 folded together with head and tail in reverse position, there 

 being three pairs ". It is of interest to note that in the very 

 young ray the teeth are all of about the same size, and it is 

 only as it grows older that the centre teeth become broader. 



The flesh is of somewhat poor quality, but is eaten in some 

 parts of the world. Dr. Jenkins remarks concerning the 

 Indian species that, when eaten fresh, the flesh is by no means 

 to be despised. 



SPOTTED EAGLE RAY. 



(Genus Aetobatus.) PL II c. 



Very like the True Eagle Rays, but with a single row of 

 long, bar-like teeth, arranged one behind the other, in each 

 jaw (Fig. 59). The ground-colour of the upper surface is 

 brown or grey, and there are numerous round, bluish-white 

 or yellow spots, which are fainter on the head and the front 

 part of the disc. 



Grows to a very large size, the disc sometimes being 6 feet 

 or more in width. 



There is probably only one existing species (^4. narinari), 

 which is almost cosmopolitan in tropical and subtropical 

 seas. 



Very little is known of the habits of this ray, but there is 

 little doubt that it feeds almost exclusively upon oysters and 

 clams. It may do tremendous damage to the pearl-oyster 

 beds, and those of Ceylon have occasionally been ruined by its 

 depredations. " I have known beds, containing many bushels 

 of planted clams," writes Dr. Coles, " being attacked by 

 schools of these rays and every clam in them destroyed in 

 less than a week. . . . The muscular development of 

 the jaws of this fish is truly wonderful. I have found in 

 these rays clams which with their shells on must have weighed 

 more than 3 pounds, and to crack which a pressure of perhaps 

 a thousand pounds would be required." Dr. Coles has also 

 observed these rays using their snouts for rooting in the sand 

 for shellfish, after the manner of a drove of hogs. 



The Spotted Eagle Ray is not feared by fishermen to nearly 



