276 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



tained in one of those in our Study Material, combined witli the presence of a single 

 series of translucent dots along the mid-dorsal line of the tail, seemingly presaging the 

 later development of caudal thorns, with no indication of future thorns anywhere on 

 the disc.i^* 



Habits. Nothing whatever is known of the way of life of R. spinkauda beyond the 

 fact that the few specimens taken so far have come from depths of: 120-440 fathoms, 

 where bottom temperatures ranged between 0.5 and 3.8° C (about 32 and 39° F) in 

 West Greenland waters; 66-88 fathoms (120-160 m) off Iceland; 90-140 fathoms in 

 Newfoundland waters, where the temperature of the bottom water was between + 0.65 

 and -1.5° C; and, if our identification of two egg capsules in our Study Material 

 (p. 275) is correct, 260-350 fathoms off southern Nova Scotia and on the continental 

 slope off the southern part of Georges Bank. Several taken off Southwest Greenland 

 had fed on capelin (Mallotus) and on the Starry Skate {Raja radiata). 



Range. R. spinkauda is known definitely only from: Barents Sea; off the south- 

 east coast of Iceland; from the Greenland side of Davis Strait, Lat. 65° 14' N, Long. 

 55° SS'^'-> from Tunugdliarfik Fjord, Skovfjord, and Julianehaab,!^' Southwest Green- 

 land; from the continental slope (91-127 fath.) off Cape Bonavista, east coast of New- 

 foundland; and from the deep trough of Hermitage Bay (90-140 fath.) on the south 

 coast of Newfoundland (two specimens).i«'' To judge from the distribution of these local- 

 ities, it is to be expected also in other bays along the coasts of eastern Labrador and of 

 eastern and southern Newfoundland, wherever the water is deep enough and the bottom 

 temperature lower than 2-3° C (35-37° F); also around the slopes of the Grand Banks 

 at suitable depths. And, if the identification of egg capsules in our Study Material is 

 correct (p. 275), R. spinicauda ranges westward along the continental slope at least as 

 far as the offing of southwestern Georges Bank. 



Synonyms and References: 



Raja spinicauda Jensen, Mindeskr. Steenstr. Fods. Kbh., 2 (30), 1914: 30, 33, 38, fig. 12, pi. not numbered 

 (descr., color, meas., size, ills, adult and egg case, depths, temps., Davis Str. and fjords of SW. Green- 

 land); Clark, Rep. Fish. Bd. Scot. (1926), i, 1926: 49 (diagn., range, after Jensen, 1914); Faune Ichthyol. 

 Cons. int. Explor. Mer, 193 1: pi. not numbered (descr., size, ills., range, depth, egg cases, W. Green- 

 land, after Jensen, 1914; and Western Horn, Iceland); Lundbeck, Mitt, dtsch. SeefischVer., 4g, 1933: 

 8 (Barents Sea); Jensen, Spol. Zool. Mus. Hauniensis, 9, 1948: 49 (W. Greenland). 



Raja teevani Bigelow and Schroeder 1951 

 Figure 59a 



Study Material. Immature male, 558 mm in total length, type, in U. S. National 

 Museum, and another immature male, 302 mm in total length, in Harvard Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology, both from Lat. 29°ii'N, Long. 86°52' W, 305 fathoms, 

 Oregon St. 279. 



158. Unfortunately the embryo is in poor condition. 159. Personal communication from Paul M. Hansen. 



160. These Newfoundland captures, made during experimental fishing for halibut by the research vessel of the New- 

 foundland Department of Natural Resources, were reported to us by letter from W. Templeman, Director, to 

 whom we are also indebted for the specimen pictured in Fig. 59. 



