1122 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



dividuals both the u])])ei' and under surfaces of the 

 l)ody are roughened witli spinula', wliich are, however, 

 somewhat unevenly distributed, large and small patches 

 of perfectly smooth skin occurring here and there. The 

 spinulffi are also rather scattered, except on the under 

 surface of the snout and around the inner oi-bital mar- 

 gins, where they are card-like. They do not extend 

 to the hind margin of the pectoral fins, which is per- 

 sistently smooth. In form these spinula3 are very 

 pointed and fine, with a somewhat expanded, stellate 

 base, the diameter of which is less, however, than the 

 entire length of the spine, and which is scarcely dis- 

 tinguishable to the naked eye. Here and there they 

 are worn and more granular, and their size is highly 

 variable. In middle-aged specimens the orliital aculei 

 are as a rule already worn down or missing. This is 

 partly the case too with the median caudal row, of 

 which there usually remain only one or two aculei and 

 the marks of the rest. Each lateral margin of the tail, 

 oil the other hand, has developed by this age a row 

 of aculei, which is also very variable, seldom symmet- 

 rical, and displays the peculiarity that most of its 

 aculei are oftenest directed forwards. Full-grown fe- 

 males are rather densely covered with spinuUc through- 

 out the dorsal side, except on the outermost parts of 

 tiie hind margin of the pectoral fins, and on the pos- 

 terior fold and anterior lobe of the ventral fins. The 

 ventral surface of the snout is almost as densely armed 

 with spinuliB as the dorsal side. At the middle of the 

 body and on the tail, as well as on the inner parts of tiie 

 hind lobe of the ventral fins, the ventral side is also spini- 

 gerous, but the spinula; are more scattered and grow 

 sparser and sparser outwards, until they disappear on 

 the outer parts of the pectoral and ventral fins, the an- 

 terior lobe of the ventral fins being also naked. In adult 

 males the spiny armature is as usual less developed. 

 The coloration of the dorsal side is yellowish gray 

 or brown, with irregularly distributed and highly vari- 

 able spots of lighter and darker tint. Young and 

 middle-aged specimens frequently have one or two pairs 

 of ocelli, varying in size, on the jjosterior and inner parts 

 of the pectoral fins. One of our figures (PI. XLVIII, 

 fig. 2) represents a specimen from Gullmar Fjord witii 

 the dorsal side strewn everywhere with light spots (var. 



guttata). The v(;ntral side is of a dirty grayish white 

 or darker, chocolate-coloured, shading towards the hind 

 margins of the disk into a grayish violet. It is also 

 clotted and streaked, as we have mentioned above, with 

 black, the apertures and opening ducts of the system of 

 the lateral line being thus indicated. This black ])unc- 

 tuation extends sometimes even to the anterior part of the 

 back. Sometim(>s, however, the ventral side is so white 

 — Baron Cederstrom has presented to the Royal Museum 

 a specimen of this description, a male 1 in. long and not 

 j'et mature, from StrSmstad — and the black punctua- 

 tion so sparse and faint that the difference from the 

 Sharp-nosed Skate in this respect is inconsiderable. 



The common Skate is strictly a North Atlantic fish, 

 its range extending from Norwegian Finmark and Ice- 

 land south to the Bay of Biscay. According to Moreau 

 and Carus" it ;dso occurs in tiie Mediterranean, being 

 fairly common, especially off Cette and Riou; but neither 

 GiGLiOLi* nor Doderlein" includes it among the list of 

 Mediterranean fishes. The difiiculty of fixing a specific 

 limit between this species and the so-called Black-bellied 

 Skate, which at least has a representative form in the 

 Mediterranean, renders it impracticable to pass an opi- 

 nion on this head without access to specimens. Our 

 knowledge of tlie North American Kays is also too un- 

 certain to decide the question whether the common 

 Skate does not belong as well to the western parts of 

 the North Atlantic. The waters round the British Isles 

 and the fishing-banks off the south and middle of Nor- 

 way are undoulitedly the most frequented haunts of 

 the common Skate. It also enters in numbers the deep 

 fjords and the island-belts of the west coast of Scandi- 

 navia. In Bohusliln it is commoidy taken. In tiie 

 Sound it penetrates at least to the neighbourhood of 

 Landskrona, and through the Belts it makes its way, 

 though rarely, at least to Travemiinde Bay (Mobius 

 and Heincke). Its bathymetric range is also rather 

 extensive. The older individuals are taken in Norway, 

 according to Lill.ieborg, at depths sometimes amounting 

 to 200 fathoms. But, like the other Raj's, it ascends 

 to higher levels during summer; and Keoyer once saw 

 4 specimens, 12 to 15 dm. long, taken at the end ot 

 September in a stake-net off Gilleleje (the north coast 

 of Zealand), in water probably not more than 4 fa- 



" Prndr. Fucb Medit., vol. II, p. 523. 



' Expos, intern, di Pesca, Berliiio 1880, Sez. Ital. Catal., p. 114. 



' Mannuale Ittiol. Medit., 1. c. 



