Fishes of the IVestern North Atlantic 105 



Occurrence in the Western Atlantic. The most northeasterly records for T. nobiliana 

 off the American Coast are: one from Eastport, Maine, at the mouth of the Bay of 

 Fundy, another, "presumably of this species,""^ taken in St. Margaret Bay (Nova 

 Scotia) some 30 years ago; and a third caught on a long line set for cod on La Have 

 Bank in 1890, reported by an observer v?ho was undoubtedly well acquainted with 

 T. nobiliana at Woods Hole."" It has also been taken near Seguin Island, Maine, at 

 the mouth of Casco Bay; in the vicinity of Cape Ann, Massachusetts; in the southern 

 side of Massachusetts Bay near Provincetown and along the outer coast of Cape Cod 

 (see Study Material, p. 96). Localities so distributed show that it is to be expected 

 anvwhere along the coast of the Gulf of Maine. Also, a 58-inch specimen was taken 

 on the southwest part of Georges Bank in December 1930. Torpedoes are caught 

 yearly in Buzzards Bay and in Vineyard Sound, while records of long standing indicate 

 its presence off Nantucket Island and the southern shore of Marthas Vineyard. It is 

 reported commonly off Rhode Island and in the vicinity of Block Island, and it has 

 been reported from the vicinity of New York and at localities thence southward, show- 

 ing that odd specimens are to be expected anywhere along New Jersey and Maryland 

 and within the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. 



The status of T. nobiliana southward from the region of Cape Lookout is doubt- 

 ful. "i An "electric fish" reported from the vicinity of Charleston, South Carolina"^ 

 actually may have been a Narcine brasiliensis, as seems to have been true of some of 

 the early records that ostensibly refer to Torpedo on the North Carolina Coast. ^"^ The 

 only mention of its occurrence in Florida waters known to us"* fails to state whether 

 any specimens were actually examined. It has been mentioned repeatedly as ranging 

 to Cuba, but all these reports appear to emanate from an early reference to a small 

 Electric Ray (360 mm long) of doubtful identity taken near Havana many years ago."' 

 And the recent inclusion of it as a member of the fish fauna of the northern Gulf of 

 Mexico"^ also appears to lead back to this doubtful Cuban record or to the Florida 

 Keys report mentioned above; at least we find no mention of it in the several published 

 lists of fishes for the west coast of Florida or for Texas. 



Synonyms and Western Atlantic References: 



Raja torpedo MitchiU, Trans. Lit. philos. Soc. N. Y., J, 1815: 476 (reported, Georges Bank and near Block 

 Island, by fishermen). 



Torpedo nobiliana Bonaparte, Icon. Faun. Ital., J, 1835: pi. not numbered (descr., ill. of small specimen, Italy); 

 Storer, Amer. J. Sci., ^, 1843: 214 (4 ft. 2 in. specimen, WeUfleet, Mass.); Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., 11, 

 1843: 326 (same as preceding); Proc. Boston Soc. nat. Hist., j, 1844: 94 (same specimen as Storer, 

 1843); Fowler, Proc. biol. Soc. Wash., JJ, 1920: 145 (listed. New Jersey); Proc. .'^cad. nat. Sci. Philad., 



99. Vladykov and McKenzie, Proc. N. S. Inst. Sci., 19, 1935: 52. 

 100. By G. F. O. Hansen, then second mate and later master of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries schooner Grampus 



(Smith and Kendall, Rep. U.S. Comm. Fish. [1896], 1897: 169). 

 loi. Two were taken in June of 1941, and several more during the next few weeks, at Cape Lookout, North Carolina. 



102. Jordan and Gilbert, Proc. U.S. nat. Mus., 5, 1883: 584. 



103. Radcliffe, Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish., 24, 1916: 270. 



104. "Found occasionally among the Keys," Fowler (Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., 5S, 1906: 80). 



105. By Poey (Repert. Fisico-Nat. Cuba, 2, 1868: 458) as Tetronarce occidentalis ; identification doubtful. 



106. Gowanloch, Bull. La. Conserv. Dept., 21, 1932: 86; Bull. La. Conserv. Dept., 23, 1933: 238. 



