68 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



and lobsters, on squid, and on fish. Probably, thanks to its large size, it is more 

 destructive to the latter than are any other skates. At Woods Hole the list includes 

 spiny dogfish, alewives, herring, butterfish, launce, cunners, tautog, menhaden, 

 sculpins, silver hake, hake, and flatfish. No doubt cod, haddock, etc., suffer to 

 some extent from this skate on the offshore fishing grounds, for its European relative 

 is a well-known enemy of the cod, and there is no reason to suppose that our "barn- 

 door" is less voracious. It is a strong, active swimmer, as anyone who has landed a 

 large one on a hand line will agree. It bites readily on almost any bait, and is often 

 caught on hand and long lines as well as in the otter trawl and in weirs along shore. 



Breeding habits. — Very little is known of its breeding habits. Probably it 

 spawns when in shoal water, that is, during the warm season of the j^ear. Eggs, 

 probably belonging to the barn-door, are 5}4 by 2^ inches.^^ 



Commercial lvalue. — The barn-door skate is of no commercial value except as 

 entering into the small landings of skates mentioned on page 57. 



\ 



^r^'" 



Fig. 28. — Torpedo (Narcacion nobilianus) 



THE TORPEDOES. FAMILY NARCACIONTIDiE 



26. Torpedo {Narcacion nohilianus Bonaparte) 



Electric skate; Crampfish; Numbfish 



Jordan and Evermann (Tetranarce occidentalis Storer), 1896-1900, p. 77. 

 Garman, 1913, p. 310. 



Description. — No one would be apt to mistake the torpedo for anj^ other skate 

 or ray, the rounded outline of the disk and the large caudal fin identifying it at a 

 glance. Furthermore, the skin is soft and naked, without the spines so character- 

 istic of all our common skates. The disk is roughl}'^ subcircular, truncate in front, 

 and considerably broader than long. The eyes are very small and are set far for- 



K Doctor Qarman supplied this note. 



