1108 



SCANDINAVIAN KISHES. 



THE STARRY RAY (^w. klorockan). 

 RAJA RADIATA. 

 Plate XLVII, fig. 3. 



Length of fhc snout {from the anterior margin of the eyes) about 13 or 14 % {in one gear old speeimens about 

 12 %) of the length of the bodg or abont 19 — 21 % of the breadth of the disk. Distance betircen each nostril 

 and the tip of the snout about 17 or 18 %" of the said breadth. Dorsal fins set close together, and the median 

 line between them usuaUg n-ithout aculeus. Aculei grooved in a stellate form at the base, their )iui)iber in the 



median line of the back and tail at most about 16. 



Si/n. Raja clavata, Olafs., Reise Isl., pp. 359 et 987, tnbb. XLIX 

 et L; HoLLB. (p. p.), Gbgs Wett., Witt. Samh. N. Haudl., 

 pt. Ill (1819), p. 29 cum tabb.; Pall., Zoogr. Ross. 

 A.iiat., torn. Ill, p. 58; NiLSS., Prodr. Ti:hthyol. Scaml., 

 p. 119. 



Raia fuUonica, Fabr., Fna Groetil., p. 125; Faber, Tidskr. 

 Nalurv. Kblivn, vol. V (1828), p. 240; Id. (p. p.), Pisch. 

 IsL, p. 38. 



Raja radiala, DoNOV., Brit. Fish., tab. CXIV; Yarr., Brit. Fish., 

 ed. I, vol. n, p. 439; Fr., Vet. Akad. Handl. 1838, p. 

 146; MULL., Hle, Plagiost., p. 137; Sundev., v. Wr., Skand. 

 Fislc., ed. I, p. 178, tab. 43; Kr., Damn. Fisk., vol. Ill, 

 p. 939; Nilss., Skand. Fna, Fisk., p. 736; Mgbn, Fiiil. 

 Fiskfna, p. 72; Gthr, Cat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. VIII, 

 p. 400; Garm., Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. XVII 

 (1874), p. 177; Coll., Foih. Vid. Selsk. Chriiia 1874, 

 TilljBgsh., p. 214; 1879, No. 1, p. 105; Norsk. Nordh. 

 Exped., Zool., Fisk., p. 14; N. Mag. Naturv. Chrnia, vol. 

 29 (1884), p. 118; Cedebstr., Ofvers. Vet. Akad. Forh. 

 1876, No. 4, p. 67; Malm {Ambbjraja), Gbgs, Boh. Fna, 

 p. 607; WiNTH. (Raja), Naturb. Tidskr. Kbhvn, ser. 3, 

 vol. XII (1879), p. 60; Mor., Hist. Nat. Poiss. Fr., toiii. 

 I, p. 394; Mela, Vert. Fenn., p. 368, tab. X; MOb., 

 HCKE, Fisch. Osts., p. 153; Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel., 

 vol. II, p. 347, tab. CLXXIII; Lillj., Sv., Norg. Fisk., 

 vol. Ill, p. 547. 



The Starry Ray is the smallest Scandinavian spe- 

 cies of the genus. At a length of 4V2 dm. it has 

 attained maturity, ai:d 6 dm. would seem to be its 

 maximum length, v. Wright's iigure represents a fully 

 developed female in which the length of the disk was 

 253 mm., that of the tail 192 mm., the greatest breadth 

 309 mm., and the distance between the mouth and the 

 tip of the snout 67 mm. In this species too the males 

 are commonly smaller than the females. 



The disk is almost square, but has sti-ongly rounded 

 angles, especially the posterior, which is formed by the 

 very long, broad, and uniformly rounded posterior lobes 

 of the ventral fins. The anterior side-margins of the 



disk show a slight, .S'-shaped curvature, with broader 

 and more rounded snout than that of the preceding 

 species, and from the tip of the latter projects a verv 

 small, blunt muzzle. The posterior side-margins may 

 almost be described as rounded. The greatest breadth 

 of the disk is on an average rather more than ^5 (58 

 — 64 %), and its length somewhat more than 'Z, (50 

 — 55 %), of the length of the body, the latter thus 

 measuring 86 — 88 % of the former. The average dis- 

 tance from the tip of the snout to the cloaca is rather 

 more than ' i„ (70 — 75 %) of the greatest breadth of 

 the body, and the length to the hind margin of the 

 ventral fins is almost equal to the said breadth. 



The length of the head is here too about ' - (IS 

 — 21 %) of that of the body, and that of the snout 

 varies, as in the preceding species, between about 12 

 and 14 % of the latter, but here between about 19'/2 and 

 21% (exceptionally 23 %) of the greatest breadth of the 

 disk. The interorbital breadth of the forehead and the 

 dimensions of the eyes and spiracles are about the same 

 as in the preceding species. In the position of the 

 nostrils too there is little difference from the Thorn- 

 back, the distance between them being about ■■/;„ — ''/,|, 

 of that between each of them and the tip of the snout 

 or 21 — 17 ?» of that between the cloaca and the last- 

 mentioned point. The breadth of the mouth is here too 

 in the young somewhat less than or equal to tlie inter- 

 nasal width, in the old .somewhat greater. The denti- 

 tion is very nearly alike in both sexes. The teeth (fig. 

 316) are small and pointed, set in about 36 rows along 

 both jaws, the largest in the middle, both the size and 

 number showing diminution towards the corners of the 

 mouth. Each tooth consists of a rounded basal disk, 



" Sometimes, according to Kroyer, 15'/, %. 



