240 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



length in front of mouth about 1.8 times as great as distance between exposed nostrils. 

 Orbit about as long as distance between orbits and about 1.8 times as long as spiracle. 

 Distance between inner ends of first gill openings about 1.6 times as long as distance 

 between exposed nostrils, that between fifth gills about 2/3 (67 "/o) as long as distance 

 between first gills; first gills about 1.5 times as long as fifth gills, about 19 "/o as long as 

 breadth of mouth. Nasal curtain fringed, but edge of expanded posterior (outer) margin 

 of nostril smooth or nearly so. Mouth nearly straight on juvenile male, probably so on 

 females also, but perhaps more arched on mature males. 



Teeth j^; with low conical cusp; bases about as long anteroposteriorly as they are 

 broad transversely, closely crowded in quincunx. Teeth of mature specimens not seen. 



First and second dorsal fins about equal in size, confluent at base without definite 

 interspace, their shape as shown on Fig. 51. Caudal membrane posterior to second dorsal 

 about ^/j (77 "/o) as long as base of first dorsal. Pelvics deeply concave outwardly, strongly 

 scalloped around concavity; anterior margin nearly as long (90 "/o) as distance from 

 pelvic origin to rear tip; anterior lobe spatulate, rounded at tip; posterior lobe moder- 

 ately rounded outwardly, its inner margin straight; tip well rounded, extending rear- 

 ward about Ys (21 "/o) °^ ^^^ distance from axil of pelvic toward first dorsal. 



Rostral cartilage extending nearly to tip of snout ; so soft and flexible that it can 

 hardly be felt, but visible against a strong light. Tips of anterior rays of pectorals falling 

 a little short of level of tip of rostral cartilage. 



Color. Upper surface of disc, tail and pelvics light grayish brown (after many years 

 in alcohol), but either side of rostral ridge pale yellowish, perhaps translucent in life; 

 no dark markings. Lower surface pale yellowish without markings. 



Size. It is not known how large this Skate may grow; the only specimen seen is 

 a juvenile male, its claspers reaching only ^/j of the distance rearward along the inner 

 margins of the pelvics. 



Habits. The great depth at which this one known specimen was trawled (858 fath.), 

 plus its absence from the catches of Skates that are made along the slopes of the fishing 

 banks off Nova Scotia and the Gulf of Maine, mark this as a deep-water species, prob- 

 ably confined to depths greater than 200—300 fathoms. 



Range. Known only from the lower part of the continental slope off" southern 

 Nova Scotia. 



Reference : 



Raja mollis Bigelow and Schroeder, Bull. Mus. comp. Zool. Harv., 103, i9?o: 3^8 (descr., ill., continental 

 slope off S. Nova Scotia). 



Raja ocellata Mitchill i 8 1 5 



Big Skate, Eyed Skate, Winter Skate 



Figures 52, ^':>,, 54 



Study Material. Thirty-two specimens, from about one-fourth grown to mature, of 

 both sexes, from the Massachusetts Coast and Georges Bank, in Harvard Museum of 



