1118 



SCAXDIXAVIAN FISHES. 



rate blanche), is extrcinoly probalile, lliougli so large specinitus liave 

 never beeu found in Scandinavia as further south, nor has the juve- 

 nile form (Kaja margiiinta) referred by Mobeau to the said species 

 been met with in Scandinavian waters. Fbies too was of this opinion, 

 for he combined Montagu s Raja oxyrhynchus and his own Raja 

 Untea. In recent times (DOmeril", GOnther, and Day) it has been 

 proposed again to separate them; but the best descriptions (Moreau, 

 1. c. and D6derlkin') seem to favour the opinion that they are iden- 

 tical, if we beiir in mind (lie significance within the genus of llic 

 alterations of growth and tlic external differences of sex. 



Among thu Slinr[i-iiose(l Skate, which were certainly 

 not few in number, brouplit home Ijy the tisliermen of 

 Bohuslan from tlie deep-sea fishery in the North Sea, 



-^4 



Fig. .^21. Sharp-nosed Skate {Raja Untea), $, '/g n"*- size. The 



Cattegat, July, 1837. B. Fries. From a stuffed specimen, o, an 



aculcus, after W. von Wright. 



Fries never came across specimens more than 9 or 10 

 dm. long; but none of the females he opened had fully 

 developed ovaries, nor had the males full-sized ptery- 

 gopodia'. "It is thus probable," wrote Fries, "that 

 these Skate attain a greater length before they are ca- 



pable of reproduction, which is lioriie out by Pennant's 

 statement that a specimen found by liiin measured 7 

 feet (21 '/j dm.)."" 



In form of body the Sharp-nosed Skate most nearly 

 resembles the [^receding species. The anterioi' lateral 

 margins of tiie disk, however, show hardly so deep un- 

 dulation or concavitv', the most prominent side-mai-ijin 

 of the head ap])roaching close to the line from the tip 

 of the snout to that of either pectoral tin. The ventral 

 fins too are shorter, more truncate at the tip, rectilinear; 

 their length from the sacral jirominence being contained 

 3V2 times in the entire length of the tail. The two 

 dorsal fins on the tail are closely ju.xtaposited, though 

 sometimes without being confluent at the l)ase, and the 

 posterior is set so far back that the upper tin-margin 

 projects beyond the tip of the tail, \vhich is finless, 

 save for a lobe formed by an incision iii the hind mar- 

 gin of the second dorsal fin. 



The length of the head in a female 9 dm. long 

 measures nearly '4 of that of the body oi- ^,5 of the 

 greatest breadth of the disk. The interorbital width 

 (the least breadth of the cranial forehead) is ' \ of the 

 length of the snout to the anterior margin of the eyes. 

 The diameter of the transversely set spiracles is much 

 less (Vi, according to Kr0yek) than the longitudinal 

 diameter of the eyes, which measures, according to Kr0- 

 YER, % of the interorbital width. The mouth is not so 

 broad as in the Shagreen Skate, and the dentition too 

 is feebler. The form of the teeth is not very charac- 

 teristic. It almost exactly resembles that of the common 

 Skate, with the exception that everj- tooth is compara- 

 tively smaller both in the area of the basal disk and the 

 length of the cusp, and that the number of longitudinal 

 rows is somewhat less, in the above-mentioned female 

 45'. The internasal width is much greater than the 

 least interorbital width (150 — 175 % thereof), but at 

 most somewhat less than half the distance between each 

 nostril and the tip of the snout. 



The Sharp-nosed Skate has the smoothest skin of 

 all the Scandinavian species-^. The ventral side is per- 



" Hi^t. Nat. Poiss. (su. k Buff.), tom. I, p. 564, note. 



* Man. Itliol, Medit., fasc. Ill, p. 1135. 



■" In the male 1,125 mm. long and with pterygopodia 190 mm. in leugtli described by Malm (Gbgs, Boh. Fna), these organs had not 

 attained their full development, though nearly so. The largest female mentioned by Malji was nearly 12 dm. long. According to D6derlein 

 the Mediterranean Raja brauiante grows to a length of more th.au 2 ni. .\ccording to Day the White Skate of English waters sometimes 

 weighs nearly 500 lbs. 



■^ In this respect the descriptions and figures of the present species vary considerably. According to Kroyer the tip of the snout in 

 a male is "strongly prolongated from the disk and of a considerable length. 



' In a male Kboter counted 48. 



•'' Young specimens of the common Skate, however, are sometimes equally smooth. 



