194 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



evidence, from conversations with local fishermen and from trawl catch samples, 

 indicates that in general the bulk of the Skates move inshore in the spring, offshore in 

 the middle or late summer, inshore again in the late fall and offshore again in mid- 

 winter. Our data on relative abundance in different seasons and at different localities, 

 as judged by trawl catch samples, correlates well with this apparent movement. Note, 

 too, that the inshore movements fit well with the spawning peaks in the late spring 

 and early winter mentioned above. From this and other evidence we think it probable 

 that this species of Skate customarily spawns in relatively shallow water (15 fathoms 

 and less) on a hard sandy bottom. Observations on aquarium fish indicate that the eggs 

 are usually at least partly buried in the sand. 



Turning to the matter of food eaten by Skates in this region, the amphipod, 

 Leptocheirus pinguis, is the dominant element, constituting anywhere from a third to 

 a half of the volume of the stomach contents at all times of year; Cancer irroratus follows 

 at one-fifth, and Crago septemspinosus at a tenth. 



Although there is considerable variation in the weight at any given length, in 

 general Block Island Sound fish weigh 0.5 lb. when they are 12^/4-13 in. long, 0.75 lb. 

 at 15 in., i.o lb. at 16V4 in., 1.25 lb. at 18 in., and 1.5 lb. at 19V4 in. The largest 

 fish, about 21^4 in., weighed roughly 2.0 lbs. 



Since hermaphroditism appears to be rare in elasmobranch fishes, we record here- 

 with the capture of a specimen of R. erinacea which shows this phenomenon in rather 

 extreme form. This fish, taken by a commercial dragger on July 18, 1950, about three 

 miles south of Fisher's Island, N.Y., was 41.5 cm in length and 408 g in weight. On 

 the left side this individual was a fully developed male with large testis, vas deferens, 

 and a completely adult and apparently functional clasper with the typical prominent 

 clasper gland at its base. On the right side there was a tiny and abortive clasper, barely 

 recognizable as such, an ovary which was characteristic of an adolescent female, a quite 

 well developed shell gland and an oviduct which was characteristic of mature female 

 erinacea. 



The work here reported would not have been possible without the generous 

 cooperation of many individuals, and we make grateful acknowledgment to the follow- 

 ing: Captains Ellery F.Thompson, Joseph Roderick and Harold McLaughlin trawling 

 out of Stonington; Andrew, Bonaventura, and Gabriel Gargano out of New Haven; 

 and the entire staff of the Bingham Oceanographic Laboratory. 



Raja fyllae Liitken 1887 

 Figures 39, 40 



Study Material. Female, 452 mm long, trawled off southwestern Ireland (Lat. 

 5i°37' N, Long. 1 1°56' W) between 610 and 640 fathoms (British Museum [Natural 

 History]); adult male, 438 mm long, taken from southern slope of Georges Bank, 

 420-480 fathoms, July 12, 1952, by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. 



Distinctive Characters. R. fyllae resembles R. erinacea and R. ocellata in that its 



