lOO 



Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



broadly convex outer margins'^ but with abruptly rounded or subangular posterior 

 corners, their inner posterior margins free from sides of tail for a distance about 1/4 

 as great as distance from origin of pelvic to its tip; their length (origin to tip) about 

 as great as distance from origin of first dorsal to origin of caudal. 



Each electric organ may have as many as 1,000—1,100 columns. 



Color. Dark chocolate to purplish brown above, or even nearly black, either uniform 

 or with a few obscure darker spots. Generally white below, but with edges of disc and 

 pelvics of same hue as upper surface; tail with irregular dark margins. 



Size. At birth the length of Torpedo nobiltana is probably between 200 and 250 mm, 

 for the embryonic pectoral notches still showed on Mediterranean specimens of 244 

 and 281 mm (see p. 91) and the umbilical scar was still evident on an Algerian 

 specimen 261 mm long.'^ The smallest free-living American specimen recorded so far 

 had already grown to a length of 610 mm. It is not known at just what length this 

 species matures sexually, but it is likely that all specimens that have grown to two 

 feet or more are close to sexual maturity, if they have not already reached it. One, 

 netted off Woods Hole, Massachusetts, was 56^/4 inches long," and the largest for 

 which the dimensions are definitely recorded, taken at Cape Lookout, North Carolina 

 in February, measured 60^/2 inches in length by 41 inches in breadth. But larger ones 

 are caught in the Woods Hole region,'* while Mediterranean specimens 63 inches 

 (1.6 m)'* and 5 feet 11 inches (1.8 m)'^ lo"g have been reported. 



The average weight of specimens taken at Woods Hole is reported to be about 

 30 pounds, and most of those taken anywhere on the coast weigh less than 75 pounds. 

 But the relationship between length and weight varies considerably, depending on the 

 fatness of the fish. This is illustrated by the fact that a specimen only 47.5 inches long 

 from Chesapeake Bay, examined by us, weighed about 100 pounds, whereas one of 

 48.5 inches from Cape Cod Bay weighed 81 pounds," and another of 52 inches from 

 the southern part of Georges Bank weighed only 78 pounds. The North Carolina 

 specimen mentioned in the preceding paragraph (60.5 in. long) weighed 125 pounds; 

 one of about 134 pounds (61 kg) has been reported from Cape Lookout, and many 

 years ago another of 144 pounds was brought from Nantucket to the station of the 

 U. S. Bureau of Fisheries at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. '^ The heaviest ones taken 



71. The pelvics of the specimen pictured in Fig. 22 show an interesting divergence on the two sides of the body, the 

 outer contour being the more evenly rounded on the right-hand fin. 



72. The original account of this specimen (Guichenot, Explor. Alger., Poiss., 5, 1850: 131, pi. 8, as Torpedo nigra) 

 did not mention its length, which was given subsequently by Dumeril (Hist. Nat. Poiss., i, 1865: 512). 



73. Reported to us by F. E. Firth, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. 



74. Captain Donald Campbell, a fisherman of many year's experience, informs us that he has seen them up to five or 

 six feet across near Woods Hole, Massachusetts. 



75. Dumeril, Hist. Nat. Poiss., j, 1S65: 511, by ref. to Bonaparte (probably Obs. sur la torpille, Actes i Congr. Pise, 

 1840: 18; not seen). 



76. Gibert, Bull. Inst. Catalon. Hist, nat., 1911: 102; Rey, Fauna Iberica, Peces, j, 1928: 526. 



77. Reported by Dorothy Snyder. 



78. Recorded weights of a few British specimens of different sizes are as follows: 13 pounds at 28 inches, 25 pounds at 

 33 inches, 42 pounds at about 40 inches, 82 pounds at 46 inches, and no pounds for one between 60 and 64 inches 

 long, the latter the largest that had been reported from British waters up to 1925 (Jenkins, Fish. Brit. Isles, 1925: 

 329)- 



