184 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



But this seasonal shift in depth appears to be less than has sometimes been stated, for 

 Little Skates are taken in winter in fish traps near New York in depths not greater 

 than 20—30 feet, are trawled regularly throughout the winter off the Connecticut shore 

 and off southern Massachusetts in 15—20 fathoms, and specimens tagged in June near 

 Block Island, Rhode Island, were recaught nearby the following winter and spring.'" 

 But it is also present in winter and spring in depths as great as 70—80 fathoms off 

 southern New England and on southern Georges Bank where it probably is a year- 

 round resident."* It has also been reported off North Carolina in winter in depths 

 greater than 30 fathoms. ^^^ 



Numerical Abundance. This is not only the commonest Skate along the coasts of 

 New England but the most familiar because of its habit of coming into shoal water. 

 More exact information as to its abundance is found in the report that during one 

 series of observations a trawler took an average of 98.8 pounds of them per hour in 

 Long Island Sound, August 1943 to January 1944;"" during a second series, 1944- 

 1946, 2i(> hauls yielded an average of around 200 specimens per haul;"^ and several 

 hundred a day are sometimes landed at Woods Hole by draggers during the winter 

 for preservation as teaching material for students of zoology. 



Relation to Man. This Skate is seldom used as food, but small numbers are utilized 

 for baiting eel and lobster traps and some are used as zoological specimens. 



Range. Western North Atlantic, North Carolina to Nova Scotia and southern 

 side of Gulf of St. Lawrence; from near shore out to about 80 fathoms. 



Details of Occurrence. The lower St. Lawrence River and southern shore of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence,'*^ including the Bay of Chaleur, appear to be its most northerly 

 outposts, for it has not been reported anywhere else within the Gulf, from Newfound- 

 land (coastwise or offshore) or from Labrador. But it is described as "very common""^ 

 all along the Atlantic Coast of Nova Scotia. It is plentiful along both shores of the Bay 

 of Fundy and is generally distributed in suitable situations all around the northern and 

 western coastline of the Gulf of Maine, including its larger bays (e. g., Massachusetts 

 Bay) and interinsular passages. It is plentiful also along Cape Cod, on southwestern 

 Georges Bank, off the southern coast of Massachusetts, around the islands of Nan- 

 tucket and Marthas Vineyard, in Rhode Island waters, along the coast of Connecticut, 

 on both shores of Long Island, near New York Harbor, and along New Jersey. It 



137. Reported by Daniel Merriman as a result of tagging experiments conducted in June 1946 by the Bingham Ocean- 

 ographic Laboratory. 



138. We trawled one January 27, 1950 in 55 fathoms south of Block Island on the dragger Eugene H. On a cruise of the 

 Albatross III, May 11-17, 1950, we took the following specimens in trawl hauls between Hudson Canyon and 

 69° 10' W: 47 in 6 hauls, 20-30 fath.; 77 in 8 hauls, 31-40 fath.; 55 in 15 hauls, 41-50 fath.; 7 in 1 1 hauls, 51-60 

 fath.; 8 in 6 hauls, 61-70 fath.; 18 in 9 hauls, 71-80 fath.; o in 8 hauls, 101-250 fath. 



139. Specimens reported by the Albatross III as taken in January 1950 in the vicinity of Cape Lookout, North 

 Carolina. 



140. Merriman and Warfel, Trans. 9th N. Amer. Wildl. Conf. (1944): 234. 



141. Merriman and Warfel, Bull. Bingham oceanogr. Coll., II (4), 1948: 148, 157. 



142. Halkett, Check List Fish. Canada, 1913 : 42, "Gaspe Bay"; Cox, Bull. nat. Hist. Soc. New Brunsw. 13, 1S95: 63. 

 There is also a specimen from Prince Edward Island in the American Museum of Natural History. 



143. Vladykov and McKenzie, Proc. N. S. Inst. Sci., J9, 1935: 51. 



