LONG-NOSED SKAl'K. 



1125 



iris is bronze-coloured, tlic i)n|iil sluidcs into green anrl 

 hlue-bliiek. Tiie male IMack-liellied Skate from 'I'roiid- 

 lijem Fjord presented by Storm to the IJoyal Museum 

 in Mareh, 1891, and the original of our figure, showed 

 on the dorsal side about the same coloration as the 

 Long-nosed Skate represented in Plate XMX; tlie black 

 skin of tlie ventral side had been for the most part 

 chafed awa^' during the railwax-journey to Stock- 

 holm. 



The Blaek-bellied Skate is hitherto known only 

 trom the deepest parts of Trondhjem Fjord, where Stokm 

 first distinguished it in 1880, among the fish taken at 



a depth of 150— ;10() fathoms. It is stated to be fairly 

 ciinniion tliei'e. As mentioned above, however, there is 

 scarcely any reason to regard it as distinct in species 

 from tlie Scotch Jiuja hilermcdla and the Mediterra- 

 nean /('. iHdcioiiii/iirluis. Its manner of life, says 

 Stokm, is about tlie same as that of the other deep- 

 sea Skates. It voraciously devours both large fishes 

 and crustaceans. The fishes he most fret|uently found 

 in its stomach \vere Macruriis and Sebastcs as well 

 as Sphiax nif/er and I'lisfiurus catiih(s, and the crus- 

 taceans commonest among the contents were Lithodes 

 ■maja, rasiphai- tarda, and Pandalus borealis. 



THE LONG-NOSED SKATE (s\v. plogjernsrockan). 

 RAJA OX YRH YNCH US. 



Plate XLIX. 



Length of the snout from the anterior margin of the eyci about 20 — 24 % {24^ j^ %) of the length of the body 



or 31 — .^'.5 % {36 %) of the greatest breadth of the disk. Distance between each nostril and the ti]i of flic snout 



about 27 — 31 ?o of the said breadth and more than tic'icc the infeniasal iridth. Least interorbit(d tridth less 



than Vj of the length of the snout. Other cssoifial characters as in the common Skate. 



Si/n. Levirnja mucusa. buvosa, Salv., Aquat. aiiiiii. /(ist., fol. 149, 

 fig. 52. Rata oscyrhynohos major, Willughb., De Pise, 

 p. 71, tab. C, 4 (ex Salv.). Raja vaiia, ttiberculis deccm- 

 aculeatis iu inoilio dorsi, .\rt., Ichthyol.. Gen. Pise, p. 72; 

 Syn. Pifc. p. 101. 



Riija Oxyrijichtis, Lin., Syst. Xnt.. c-d. X. torn. I, p. 2.31; 

 BoNAp. (Laioiraja), Iconogr. Fna Ital.. tab. 151, lig. 1; (Jthu 

 (Raja), Cat. Brit. Miis. Fisli., vol. Vllt, p. 4G9; Mor., 

 Ifisl. .Xat. Poiss. Fr., toni. I, p. 403; Day. Fish. Gt. Brit., 

 Irel, vol. II, p. ,S41. tab. CLXIX; Dopkbl., Man. Itiiol. 

 Medit., fasc. Ill, p. 152. 



Raja chagrinea, Yarr., Brit. Fish., ed. 1, veil. II, p. 414. 



Raja Vomer, Fr., Vet. Akad. HaDdl. 1838, p. 161; MOll., 

 Hle, Plagiost., p. 144 ( + R. Salmani, p. 143); Kb., Damn. 

 Fisk., vol. Ill, p. toil; Nilss. (oxyrhinchusf), Ukand. 

 Fna, Fisk., p. 740; Malm, Ofvers. Vet. Akad. Forb. 1857, 

 p. 193; Rich, in Yakr., Brit. Fish., ed. 3, vol. II, p. 548; 

 Gthr, Cat., I. c., p. 468; Coll., Forh. Vid. Selsk. Cbrnia 

 1874, Till^gsb., p. 217; 1879, No. 1, p. 106; Nyt Mag. 

 Natiirv. Chrnia, Bd 29 (1884), p. 120; Malm, Ghgs, Boh. 

 Fna, p. 617; Storm, Norsk. Vid. Selsk. Skr. Trondlij. 1880, 

 p. 81; 1883, p. 46; Lillj., Sv., Norg. Fna, Fisk., vol. 

 Ill, p. 598. 



Raj<i miicronata, Couch, Corn. Fna, p. 25; Fish. Brit. IsL, 

 vol. I, p. 93. tab. XIX; Y.abr.. Brit. Fish., ed. 2. vol. II, 

 p. 550. 



That this species also ranks among tlie large.st 

 Scandinavian forms of the genus and perha])s rivals the 

 common Skate in size, appears from the fact that females 

 measuring 1 ','3 m. are found that have not yet reached 



maturity. As a rule, however, the Long-nosed Skate 

 is smaller tlian the common Skate, and tiie males are 

 sometimes mature, as our figure shows, at a length of 

 121 cm. The largest females found by Malm among 

 the take from the fishing-banks of Jiideren were 14 

 dm. long, and the largest males measured 137 cm. 



The form of the body is highly charactei'istic of 

 the Long-nosed Skate. Owing to the strong prolongation 

 of the snout and its ]jointed or ploughshare-like form, 

 the disk acquires the appearance of a sector of a circle, 

 the two radii (the anterior side-margins of the disk) 

 being undulate and incurved, so that the mo.st pro- 

 minent lateral margin of the head falls a good way- 

 short of the straight line from the tip of the snout to 

 that of either pectoral fin. The posterior side-margins 

 of the disk together form a handsome circular curve, 

 the centre of which lies in the middle of the mouth 

 aperture. The distance from tlu' tip of the snout to 

 the hindmost part of the posterior margin of the pec- 

 toral tins measured in two females about 83 — 84 ?» of 

 the greatest breadth of the disk, in two males about 

 88^ — 90 % of the same. The distance fi-om the ti]) of 

 the snout to the posterior margin of the ventral fins 

 is very nearly the same as the greatest breadth of the 

 disk (about 92—104 % thereof). 



