SAXDY RAY. 



111?, 



Coll., Forli. Vid. Sclsk. Chrnin 1874, TilNofjsli., p. 214; 

 187!), No. 1, p. 105; N. Mag. Natnrv. Chrnin, vol. 29 (1884), 

 p. lli); M.\LM, Gbgs, Boh. Fini. p. t!08; MoR., Hist. 

 Xat. />»/.«. Fr., torn. I, p. .^07; D.w, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irei, 

 vol. II, p. .348, tab. CLXXIV; LiLL,r., Sv., Norg. Fisk., 

 vol. Ill, p. 004; C.Mius, Prodr. Fine Mcdit.. vol. II, 

 p. ,V21. 



The Sandy liay attains tlie greatest size among 

 our blunt-nosed species, the females growing to a 

 length of at least \'l dm. It also undergoes tlie greatest 

 alterations in its |ir<)[)oi-tions, tlic Miung lia\"ing com- 

 paratively a mucli longer tail tiian the old. 



Tiie form of the l)ody is essentially the same as 

 in the case of the Starry Hay; but the disk is still 

 more rounded, and the root of the tail broader (flatter). 

 The breadth of the disk is in young specimens (less 

 than 4 dm. long) about 48 — .')o %. in (dd as much as 

 63 or (34 %, and its length in the former about 44 — 

 51 ?*, in the latter 52 — 54 %, of the length of the body, 

 the length of the disk thus varying between about 85 

 and 95 %" of its breadth. The distance from the tip 

 of the snout to the cloaca is about ' \i of the greatest 

 breadth of the body, and that to the hind extremity 

 of the ventral tins about equal to the same. 



The length of the head, which varies, according to 

 DoDEiiLEis's measurements, between 25 and 38 ?a of 

 the breadth of the disk, is during youth, in consequence 

 of the great length of the tail, only about 15 % of that 

 of the body; subsequently, according to Dodeklein, this 

 percentage increases to 20, while the relative length of 

 the tail is undergoing reduction, but again diminishes in 

 the old to 16 % of the length of the body. The length 

 of the snout is less in proportion to that of the body 

 than in any among the preceding species of the genus, 

 but in proportion to the breadth of the disk similar to 

 the same measurement in the Starry Ray*. The least 

 interorbital width of the forehead in this species too 

 is somewhat more than Vj (about 36 %) of the length 

 I if the snout, and the longitudinal diameter of the eyes 

 varies between about ^,'4 and ^,'3 of this breadth. The 

 width of the spiracles, which are directed rather straight 

 outwards, is in young specimens less, in old, according 

 to DoDERLEiN, '4 greater, than the longitudinal dia- 

 meter of the eyes. The mouth and its dentition are 

 subject to considerable alterations of growth. In the 

 young the cleft of the mouth is much smaller tlian in 



Starry li:i}S of tiic same size, but the teeth are similar 

 to those of the latter; in old sjiecimens tlie moutii is 

 broad, and the teeth are siiarp and unguiform, both in 

 females and males, while their number too shows con- 

 siderable int'i'casc with age. In a young sjn-cimen about 

 45 cm. long we find onh' .')4 longitudinal rows of teeth 

 in tlie upper jaw, where Mai.m in older specimens 

 counted 78. Tlie internasal width is in our young 

 specimens 71 — 72 ?» of the distance between either of 

 the nostrils and the tip of the snout, but only 15 — 

 16 ?o of that l)etween the mouth of tlu> cloaca and the 

 latter |)oint. 



Young specimens of the Sandy Ray too have only 

 the dorsal side armed with spines, the ventral being 

 perfectly smooth. In ohlcr specimens both the ventral 

 side and the dorsal are more or less densely coated 

 witli spinulte throughout the greater part of the surface; 

 but certain patches, as, on the dorsal side, the hind 

 margin of the pectoral fins, the anterior lobe and the 

 base of the ventral tins together with an ol)long patch 

 further in, and the greater portion of the median line 

 of the back and tail, and, on the ventrai side, the outer 

 part of the pectoral fins, the whole of tlie ventral fins, 

 and the region between the latter pair, are smooth. 

 Along the anterior margin of the pectoral fins — in old 

 specimens both on the dorsal side and the ventral — as 

 well as on the sides of the tail and at its extreme lateral 

 margin ■ — in young specimens, however, only to a line 

 w'ith the beginning of the first dorsal fin, where the 

 lateral margins of the tail develop a broad dermal 

 fold — are set rows of larger spinulaj, intermediate be- 

 tween spinulte and aculei. The true aculei, which here 

 too are grooved, though not so distinctly as in the 

 Starry Ray, have a broad conical base and a compress- 

 ed, recurved spine. They are set on the front of the 

 snout, in a curved row on the supraorbital margin, in 

 a triangular patch between the head and the scapular 

 cartilage, one or two at each end of the latter carti- 

 lage, in a row on each side of the median dorsal line 

 behind the scapular cartilage — sometimes, especially 

 in old specimens, this row commences further back or 

 even not before the tail — and in two to four more or 

 less irregular series on the sides of the tail. The me- 

 dian line itself is smooth, with the exception that, 

 owing to the irregularity prevalent in the distribution 



" According to DOderlein's measurements the variations run between 83 and 97 °o. 



' In the Mediterranean falsavela, however, it is sometimes, according to DOderlein's measurements, only about IG — 17 % of the 

 breadth of the disk. 



