I02 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



Habits. Practically nothing is known of the way of life of T. nobiliana. Probably 

 it spends most of its time on the bottom partially buried in sand or mud, awaiting 

 whatever prey may come within its reach. But the rather frequent captures of Tor- 

 pedoes in pound nets near Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and the netting of at least one 

 in a seine, shows that they move about more or less actively and may swim up from the 

 sea floor, probably in pursuit of small fish. 



A few of the specimens that have been examined at Woods Hole have contained 

 fish: a summer flounder {Paralichthys dentatus) about 14V2 inches long (37 cm) was 

 taken from one. A two-pound eel and a one-pound flounder were found in one from 

 British waters, a salmon weighing between four and five pounds was found in another, 

 a red mullet (Mullus surmuletus) and a plaice {Phuronectes platessa) were recovered in 

 a third, and the remains of a small Spotted Dogfish (genus Scyliorhinus) were found 

 hanging from the mouth of still another British specimen when caught. ^^ Evidently 

 the wide distensibility of the jaws enables it to swallow fishes much larger than might 

 seem possible from the apparent breadth of its mouth when closed, and its sharp 

 recurved teeth serve not only to prevent its victim from escaping but as an aid in 

 swallowing. It is believed generally that it stuns the fishes on which it preys by means 

 of its electric discharges. Otherwise it is difficult to conceive how a fish as sluggish 

 as this could capture other active fishes. However, the actual process has not been 

 observed. Also, it has been reported repeatedly as caught by hook and line on dead 

 bait of one kind or another. 



Its scarcity on the grounds where otter trawlers normally operate, though within 

 its known range, suggests that it is most apt to be found on flat sandy or muddy bottom, 

 as in the case of its representative in British waters.'^ 



Of its breeding habits in American waters we know only that a female containing 

 one embryo was taken near New York in June, that another gravid female was cap- 

 tured at Woods Hole in summer,^^ and that the eggs of this species are said to be 

 nearly ripe late in June,^* which suggests that the period of gestation is nearly a year. 

 It seems that the young are born offshore, for the smallest individual recorded from 

 American inshore waters, a New Jersey specimen, was 610 mm long.^* 



The statement has long been current that the shock from a large Torpedo of this 

 species in rested condition may be strong enough to throw a grown man to the ground,** 

 and it is stated also that a shock may be received through the wet handle of a gaff- 

 hook or harpoon. Antedating the scientific naming of the New England Torpedo is 

 the anecdote*' of a dog, who, being in the habit of wading in shoal water on a Cape 



81. Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., 2, 1880-1884: 331. 82. Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., 2, 1880-1884: 331. 



83. Our Study Material includes one embryo from this female, but no record was kept of the total number that she 

 contained. 



84. Sumner, Osburn and Cole, Bull. U.S. Bur. Fish., 31 (2), 1913: 739. 



85. Fowler, Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., 7.^, 1922: 3. 



86. It seems that most of the published statements to this effect for Torpedo nobiliana in American waters lead back to 

 Atwood's report that he had "received many powerful shocks" from Torpedoes taken near Provincetown, Mas- 

 sachusetts, "which have thrown me upon the ground as quick as if I had been knocked down with an ax" (see 

 Storer, Amer. J. Sci., 45, 1843: 167). 87. Storer, Rep. Fish. Rept. Birds Mass., 1839: 201. 



