Fishes of the Western North Atlantic i 2 i 



the Caribbean region in general, to northern Florida on both coasts, to Texas, and 

 perhaps to Louisiana (not yet reported there). 



To the northward it has been reported once from Charleston, South Carolina (a 

 newborn specimen), as well as from Southport, Beaufort, and Cape Lookout, North 

 Carolina. The Bight immediately south of the Cape appears to act as a sort of cul de sac 

 for such Narcine as wander that far north, for 13 out of 23 specimens reported near 

 Cape Lookout during the summers of 1909, 19 10, and 191 2 were taken in this Bight. ^^^ 

 This marks the extreme northern limit of its range, so far as known. Southward from 

 southern Brazil it has been reported only from Bahia Samboronbon at the southern 

 side of the entrance to the Rio de la Plata, and from Bahia Blanca on the northern 

 Argentina Coast in about Lat. 39°3o' S. 



Captures of Narcine brasiliensis off the Texas Coast in the months of September, 

 November, and March show that it winters that far north and probably does likewise 

 at least along the southern part of Florida. However, to the northward along the 

 Atlantic Coast of the LTnited States all the records of it, except one, have been in summer. 

 Here its visits appear also to be brief, for while it reaches Cape Lookout in many sum- 

 mers, if not yearly, it has been found inshore there only between June 27 and July 8.^** 

 But a few must winter offshore as far north as this, for one was trawled in 20 fathoms 

 off the Cape in February 1950,^"* and two other Torpedo Rays, probably of this species, 

 were reported as taken in 34—35 fathoms nearby in January of that same year. 



Synonyms and References: 



Torpedo brasiliensis Olfers, die Gattung Torpedo, 1831: 19, pi. 2, fig. 4 (descr., color, ill., Rio de Janeiro, 

 Brazil). 



Narcine brasiliensis Henle, Ueber Narcine, 1834: 31, pi. i, figs, i, 2, pi. 4, figs. 1-4, 8 (descr., meas., ills., 

 cranium with attached cartilages, teeth; Rio de Janeiro); Miiller and Henle, Plagiost., 1841 : 129 (descr. 

 meas., color varieties, Rio de Janeiro and W. Indies); Dumeril, Rev. Mag. Zool., (2) 4, 1852: 272 

 (descr., color, Brazil, Martinique, Guadeloupe) ;i** Hist. Nat. Poiss., j, 1865: 514, pi. 11, fig. 3 (descr. 

 color, ills, mouth, teeth; Antilles and Brazil); Kner, 'Novara' Exped., Zool., I, Fische, 5, 1865: 418 

 (descr., color variations, size; Rio de Janeiro); Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., 8, 1870: 453 (diagn.. 

 Para, Caribbean, Cuba, but ref. to C. of Good Hope probably erroneous; see p. 120, footnote 160); Goode 

 and Bean, Proc. U. S. nat. Mus., 5, 1882: 240 (listed. Gulf of Mexico); Jordan, Proc. U. S. nat. Mus., 

 7, 1884: 105 (cf. N.umirosa Jordan, n.sp.); Fritsch, Arch. Anat. Physiol., Leipzig (1886), Physiol. 

 Abt., 1886: 353 (av. no. electric columns); Jordan, Rep. U. S. Comm. Fish. (1885), 1887: 799 (listed, 

 W. Indies and Florida Keys); Garman, Bull. Mus. comp. Zool. Harv., ly, 1888: 93, pi. 33 (mucous 

 canal syst.); Bean, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., 8, 1890: 206 (listed, Cozumel, Yucatan); Fritsch, Elektr. 

 Fische, 2, i8go: 41, 98, pi. 9, figs. 17, 18, pi. 10, fig. 20 (descr., varieties, av.no. of columns in electric 

 organ, ills.); Jordan and Evermann, Bull. U. S. nat. Mus., 4y (i), 1896; 78 (descr., W. Indies and Brazil 

 to Key West and Pensacola, Florida); Rep. U. S. Comm. Fish. (1895), 1896: 222 (listed, W. Indies 

 and Brazil to Key West and Pensacola, Florida); Jordan and Rutter, Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., 4g, 

 1897: 92 (listed, Jamaica); Duerden, J. Inst. Jamaica, 2, 1899: 614 (listed, Jamaica); Evermann and 

 Kendall, Rep. U. S. Comm. Fish. (1899), 1900: 49 (listed, Florida Keys, Key West and Pensacola); 



162. Gudger, Proc. bid. Soc. Wash., 26, 1913: 99. 



163. Coles, Bull. Amer. Mus. nat. Hist., 32, 1913: 33. 



164. Specimen 250 mm long, examined by us, trawled by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service steamer Albatross III, 

 Lat. 34°oi' N, Long, ^6°2■i' W. 



165. Credited by Dumeril (1852, 1865) to the Cape of Good Hope by reference to the Torpedo ocellata of Quoy and 

 Gaimard (Voy. 'Uranie', Zool., 1824: 199); but the latter probably was not a Narcine (see p. 120). 



