Fishes of the JVestern North Atlantic 223 



Size. The length at hatching probably averages about 180-190 mm.*' It has been 

 said that the Barndoor grows to a length as great as six feet; but the maximum that 

 we find definitely reported is about five feet; the largest we have seen measured 58 

 inches. Specimens taken off southern New England weigh about i^U-i'U pounds 

 when 20 Inches long, about 4—6 pounds at 28—30 inches, about 10— 11 pounds at 2^ 

 inches, about 20—25 pounds at 45—46 inches, and 30-38 pounds at 50-56 inches." 



Developmental Stages. The yellowish or greenish brown egg cases, much larger 

 than those of any other shoal-water Skate occupying the same geographic range, are 

 124— 132 mm long by 68— 72 mm broad, exclusive of the terminal horns, smooth- 

 shelled, with slightly bulging sides, the horns short (only 13— 19 mm long), stout 

 basally but tapering to slender tips." Fine filaments are attached to the margins of the 

 case, but they are not united into a membrane. Normally the newly hatched Skates 

 differ so little from their parents that they are easily identifiable. 



Abnormalities. Two specimens, 19 and 20^2 inches long, in which the anterior 

 parts of the pectorals continued separate from the sides of the head,^" have been reported 

 from Woods Hole. 



Habits. The Barndoor Skate feeds chiefly on the larger Crustacea, such as lobsters, 

 crabs, spider crabs, and shrimps. But isopods have been found in the stomachs also, 

 as have bivalves {7'oldia, and the razor clam Ensella)^ large gastropods (Buccinum, 

 Lunatia), squid, and various worms. They are also more destructive to fishes than are 

 other local Skates, their diet including spiny dogfish (Squalus), herring (Clupea), alewives 

 (^Pomolobus), menhaden (Brevoortia), sand launce (Ammodytes), cunners [Tautogolabrus), 

 tautog (Tautoga), butterfish (Poronotus), sculpins (Myoxocep/ialus), whiting (Merluccius), 

 hake (^Urophycis), and various flatfishes. No doubt cod, haddock, etc., also suffer to 

 some extent from them on the offshore fishing banks, for their European relative, 

 R. batis, is a well known enemy of the cod. They bite readily on almost any bait. 



The young are produced throughout the latitudinal range of the species. Females 

 containing eggs have been taken off outer Nova Scotia as well as in Kennebecasis Bay, 

 tributary to the New Brunswick shore of the Bay of Fundy, and recently hatched 

 specimens have been captured on Nantucket Shoals and off Chesapeake Bay. It is 

 probable that eggs are deposited from close to tide line down to the greatest depth at 

 which this !Skate ordinarily occurs. ^^ Females containing fully formed capsules have 

 been taken in December and January, ^^^ evidence that the eggs are laid in winter. How- 

 ever, it seems that the young are not hatched until late spring or early summer, for we 



47. Specimens of about 190 mm, listed under Study Material, appear to have been newly hatched, to judge from the 

 considerable lengths of their tails posterior to the second dorsal fin. 



48. Information contributed by Daniel Merriman. Reported weights of 60 pounds (at a length of 3 ft.) and 200 pounds 

 (Perley, Rep. Fish. Bay of Fundy, 1851: 154; Storer, Boston J. nat. Hist., 2, 1839: 545) were evidently much 

 too high. 



49. Account based on description and photograph by Vladykov (Nat. canad., 63, 1936: 216, 219) of egg cases taken 

 from females off Nova Scotia and in Kennebecasis Bay, New Brunswick. 



50. Radcliffe, Nat. Hist. N. Y., 28, 192S: 58; Gudger, Amer. Mus. Novit., 600, 1933: i. 



51. Eggs have been found in females caught in 15-25 fathoms and the empty cases have been picked up on the beach. 



52. Vladykov, Nat. canad., 6j, 1936: 216. 



