Fishes of the JVestern Nort/i Atlantic 225 



Nor is it likely that any north-south migration takes place with the seasons, 

 R. laevis having been taken off North Carolina both in August and in December- 

 January. 



Relation to Man. This species (with a few R. oceUatd) provides the greater part of 

 the small landings of Skates along the Atlantic Coast of the United States that are 

 used for food. The fleshy basal parts of the pectorals, known as "skate saddles," are 

 the only portions marketed. 



Numerical Abundance. The average catch per hour, made by one trawler with an 

 80-foot trawl, between August 1943 and October 1944 at the eastern end of Long 

 Island Sound was 25—73 pounds, or about two specimens per hour if the average weight 

 were 12—15 pounds. ^^ This corresponds to a population of about 120 specimens per 

 square (sea) mile, assuming that the strip swept by the trawl was 50 feet wide, that 

 the distance covered per hour was two miles, and that the trawl picked up every Skate 

 that lay in its path, which certainly was not the case. Also, 37 hauls made with an 

 otter trawl on Georges Bank during September 1929 yielded 42 R. laevis from a total 

 of 495 Skates of all kinds. Off southern New England 44 midwinter hauls in 47—67 

 fathoms and 63 hauls in May at 22—235 fathoms yielded 441 R. laevis from a total 

 of 748 Skates of all kinds. And as many as three dozen have been taken from one of 

 the fish traps in Narragansett Bay in one lift, according to an old report. 



Range. Atlantic shelf of North America, from the Grand Banks of Newfound- 

 land and southern side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to North Carolina; also doubtfully 

 reported from Florida. 



Details of Occurrence. The most northerly records of R. laevis are for the south- 

 western parts of the Newfoundland Banks (reported from three stations) and from 

 the southern side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence (Cape Breton and Magdalen Islands), 

 where large ones have been described as fairly common. It occurs all along the outer 

 coast of Nova Scotia, both inshore and on the offshore fishing banks; on both sides of 

 the Bay of Fundy, including the larger tributary bays such as St. Mary, Kennebecasis, 

 and Passamaquoddy; along the coast of Maine; in Massachusetts Bay where we have 

 seen many; also on Georges Bank and on Nantucket Shoals where it is taken in some 

 numbers by trawlers. In fact, any very large Skate reported from the Gulf of Maine 

 or from the offshore fishing grounds that front the latter is almost certain to have been 

 a Barndoor. It is present throughout the year on the continental shelf off southern New 

 England and, in season, it is equally universal all along that coast, off New York, New 

 Jersey and Maryland, and doubtless off the northern coast of Virginia," for it is fre- 

 quently taken in pound nets in the lower part of Chesapeake Bay. There is a record of 

 it between Cape Charles and Cape Hatteras;^^ odd individuals have been taken near 

 Cape Lookout, North Carolina, and our Study Material includes a small specimen 



56. Merriman and Warfel, 9th N. Amer. Wildl. Conf., 1944: 234. 



57. Reported thence from two localities only. 



58. One specimen, trawled on February 11, 1930 by the U. S. Fisheries steamer Albatross II off Bodie Island, North 

 Carolina, in 16 fathoms. 



