74 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



vicinity of Mount Desert; PlattsBank; and in the 

 bottoms of the deep troughs. It has also been 

 trawled at many stations on Georges Bank, like- 

 wise along the upper part of the continental slope 

 off southern New England, down to 336 fathoms. 

 There is nothing in the available record to sug- 

 gest that it carries out any regular migrations, 

 whether in or offshore, or along the coast. And it is 

 more catholic in respect to its choice of bottom 

 than some other skates, for while it is most plenti- 

 ful on the good fishing grounds of sand, gravel, 

 and broken shells, we have taken it at many sta- 

 tions in the Gulf on soft mud. And it is one of the 

 most plentiful of Gulf of Maine skates at appro- 

 priate depths. Thus 325 were caught in 37 trawl 

 hauls on the northeastern part of Georges Bank on 

 one trip in 1929; again, in June 1951, we counted 



432, from 42 trawl hauls (7 percent of the total 

 catch of skates), on the Eugene H fishing from 

 Nantucket Lightship to the south central part of 

 Georges. We once caught 12 in the western side 

 of the Gulf in a beam trawl only 8 feet across the 

 mouth in 30 minutes; and we have taken 1 to 100 

 of them in 26 hauls with larger trawls, between 

 Mount Desert Island and Massachusetts Bay. 



Females containing eggs about ready to be laid, 

 and deposited eggs in various stages of incubation, 

 have been taken in Nova Scotian waters or in the 

 Gulf of Maine, in April, June, July, and September, 

 and they are to be expected there in winter as well, 

 having been reported in January and February 

 off Norway, and from February to June in Scottish 

 waters. 



THE WHIP-TAILED STING RAYS. FAMILY DASYATIDAE 



The whip-tailed sting rays, like the skates, are 

 disc-like in form, very thin toward the outer edges, 

 with the anterior parts of the pectoral fins fused 

 with the sides of the head, and with the eyes and 

 spiracles on the upper surface. Their pelvic fins, 

 however, have convex outer edges, not concave 

 as are those of the skates. They have no dorsal 

 fin. Their tails are long and whiplash-like to- 

 ward the tip and armed, in most of them with one 

 to several sawedged, venomous spines on the 

 upper side. Their teeth are small and in many 

 series, closely crowded in bands along the 

 jaws. The upper surface of disc and tail is 

 smooth in some of them, variously roughened 

 with tubercles, thorns or prickles in others. 

 They do not lay eggs as the skates do, but bear 

 "living" young (p. 57). And the young resemble 

 their parents closely when born. Four species 

 are known along the Middle and South Atlantic 

 States, but only one of them reaches the Gulf of 

 Maine, and then only as a stray. Should any 

 long-tailed sting ray be picked up within the 

 limits of the Gulf that does not fit the following 

 description, its captor is referred to Bigelow and 

 Schroeder, 1953, 79 for its identification. 



» Fishes Western North Atlantic. Pt. 2. Mem. 1, Sears Foundation, 19S3. 



Sting ray Dasyatis centroura (Mitchill) 1815 80 



Stingaree; Clam cracker 



Bigelow and Schroeder, 1953, p. 352. 



Garman, 1913, pi. 33, figs. 1, 2, aa Dasybatus marinus. 



Description. — The most distinctive features of 

 this sting ray, among other Gulf of Maine fishes, 

 are its very long, whiplash-like tail without dorsal 

 fins, and the long, sawedged spine or spines with 

 which the upper side of its tail is armed. The disc 

 is rhomboid, about 1% to 1% times as broad as it 

 is long; the anterior angle is much blunter than a 

 right angle (130-140°); and the tip of the snout 

 projects very little if at all. The anterior margins 

 of the disc are nearly straight, the posterior mar- 

 gins are only slightly convex, and the posterior 

 corners are abruptly rounded or even angular. 

 The tail, measured from the center of the cloaca, 

 is about 2% times as long as the body from cloaca 

 to snout. The lower side of the tail has a narrow 

 fold of skin extending rearward from below the 

 origin of the tail spine for a distance about as 



80 This ray was mentioned as Dasybatus marinus and as D. hasiatus in the 

 first edition of this book. But the specimens in question all belong to one 

 species, the correct scientific name for which is Dasyatis centroura, proposed 

 by Mitchill in 1815, as Raja centroura. 



