Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 541 



base} its anterior corner posterior to a transverse line at rear edges of eyes by a distance 

 about V2 as great as distance between eyesj posterior parts of pectorals overlap anterior 

 parts of pelvics by a distance a little less than distance between nostrils. 



Color. Fresh specimens are described as bluish-gray or ashy-gray above, tinted with 

 red on head and margins of finsj white below, with a reddish spot on the throat, a second 

 on the abdomen and a third extending from behind the cloaca to the caudal j the pelvics are 

 bordered below with irregular reddish bands. After preservation in alcohol the upper sur- 

 face of specimen described is chocolate brown with pale mottlings, the upper surface of 

 anterior corner of pectorals brownish white, the lower surface of the trunk grayish white 

 anterior to the vent, but pale reddish brown on the tail sector, and the paired fins broadly 

 edged with pale reddish brown. 



Size. The fact that the claspers were well developed in a male of 42 V2 inches suggests 

 that maturity is reached at a length of 3 to 3 V2 feet ; the maximum length so far definitely 

 reported is four to five feet. One of four feet weighed about 60 pounds. It is not known 

 whether the American 5. dumeril ever grows as large as its European relative, S. squatina, 

 which often reaches a length of six feet (maximum reported, eight feet) with a weight of 

 1 60 to 1 70 pounds. 



Developmental Stages. Embryos of S. dumeril have not been seen, but conditions in 

 allied species make it likely that the yolk sac is very large, and that gravid females may 

 contain as many as 13 to 25 embryos. 



Remarks. This species has frequently been considered identical with 5. squatina of 

 the eastern Atlantic. Comparison of American with European specimens has shown, how- 

 ever, that they are easily distinguishable by the following characters: the shapes of the 

 head folds (cf. Fig. 103 G with 103 C), the conformation of the nasal flaps and barbels, 

 the innermargin of the pectoral notched at the axil in dumeril but not in squatina, the hori- 

 zontal diameter of eye almost as great as the maximum diameter of the spiracle in dumeril 

 but definitely smaller than the spiracle in squatina, the maximum breadth of the head only 

 about % as great as the length of the pectoral in dumeril but nearly or quite as great as the 

 length of the pectoral in squatina, and (in small specimens) the mid-dorsal denticles larger 

 in dumeril. 



Habits. Most of the specimens so far reported have been taken in depths of only a 

 few feet. However, one of the specimens listed above (p. 538) was taken in September 

 over the continental edge 80 miles from the coast, where the depth was 705 fathoms,"' 

 while several others were trawled by the United States Fisheries Steamer "Albatross" 

 about 75 miles off Long Island, New York, in 109 fathoms in February 1 920, showing that 

 it may stray far offshore and that it may also occur at considerable depths irrespective of sea- 

 son. Fragments of fish and of bivalve moUusks were found in the stomach of one taken in 

 North Carolina, where it is described as "often troublesome, getting snarled in the nets or 

 eating other fish caught therein j it also bites the fishermen if they are not wary."'^* No 



15. "Albatross" Dredging Station 2749. 25a. Smith, Bull. N. Carolina geol. econ. Surv., », 1907: 38. 



