Fishes of the IVestern North Atlantic 261 



described on p. 143, have been reported, with the anterior parts of the pectorals separate 

 from the sides of the head.^^^ 



Habits. Regarding the diet of R. radiata off the American Coast, we only know 

 that several specimens caught by us on Georges Bank in September had been feeding 

 on shrimps, spider crabs, anemones, hydroids, worms, and fishes of undetermined 

 species. In Icelandic waters R. radiata is reported as feeding on small Crustacea, especially 

 gammarids and spider crabs {Hyas), and on small fishes {Ammodytes) \ off Norway they 

 feed on Crustacea, fishes, and worms,!^^ and off West Greenland on Crustacea. 



In the western side of the Atlantic R. radiata evidently produces young through- 

 out its geographic range, for females containing well formed eggs, or egg cases con- 

 taining embryos, have been taken all along the coast of West Greenland from Disko 

 Bay (Lat. 69°26' N) southward, on the southwest slope of the Newfoundland Banks, 

 off the outer coast of Nova Scotia, and on Georges Bank fronting the Gulf of Maine. 

 Also, it appears that this species may deposit its eggs at any time of year in those parts 

 of its range where winter chilling is not too severe, for gravid females, or deposited eggs 

 in various stages of incubation, have been found in January and February in Trond- 

 hjem Fjord, Norway; from February to June, and again in October, in the North Sea 

 off Aberdeen, Scotland; from June to August around Iceland ;i^^ in the summer off 

 West Greenland; in July on the southwest slope of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland 

 (see p. 263); in April, June, July, and September off Nova Scotia; and in September 

 on Georges Bank. The period of incubation is not known. 



In general R. radiata is restricted to depths greater than about 10 fathoms even 

 in the northern part of its range. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, for example, it is de- 

 scribed as having been caught "at considerable depths" only.^^* Recorded captures 

 from the Newfoundland and Scotian Banks have been 20 fathoms and deeper; in the Bay 

 of Fundy-Passamaquoddy region it is taken only in water deeper than 10 fathoms; of 

 the many specimens taken by us in the Gulf of Maine, the shoalestwas at 14 fathoms. i^s 

 At the other extreme of its depth range, it is taken regularly down to 100 fathoms 

 throughout its latitudinal range (many as deep as 120 fath.), while it has been trawled 

 between 160 and 336 fathoms at numerous localities along the upper part of the con- 

 tinental slope in the offing of southern New England; down to 218 fathoms south of 

 Newfoundland; to 250 fathoms in Trondhjem Fjord; to 330 fathoms off West Green- 

 land; and to 459 fathoms near Spitzbergen. There is nothing in the available record 

 to suggest that this species carries out any regular seasonal migrations in American 

 waters, whether inshore and offshore or north and south. 



The Starry Skate is more catholic in respect to its choice of bottom habitat than 

 are some other Skates, for while it is most plentiful on good fishing grounds of sand 



121. Reported for a specimen off Iceland by Saemundsson (Skr. Komm. Havunders. Kbh., 5, 1909: 126). 



122. Saemundsson, Skr. Komm. Havunders. Kbh., 5, 1909: 126; Smitt, Hist. Scand. Fish., 2nd ed., 1895: iiio. 



123. Saemundsson, Skr. Komm. Havunders. Kbh., 5, 1909: 126. 



124. Cox, Contr. Canad. Biol. (1918-1920), 1921: 109. 



125. The report of it being taken in fish traps at Woods Hole (Sumner, Osburn and Cole, Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish., 31, 

 1913: 738) lacks supporting evidence as to identity. 



