52 : MALAYAN FISHES. 
A saw-fish measuring 23 feet 6 inches exclusive of the saw was 
taken in the Bay of Bengal by the Government trawler “ Golden 
Crown” and I believe that this is the largest recorded fish. No 
mention is made of the length of the saw of this specimen but it is 
not likely to have been fess than 7 feet. The largest saw in the 
Raffles Museum, Singapore, measures 5 ft. 103 in, 
BEAKED-RAYS. 
(RHINOBATIDAE.) 
These are harmless, sedentary, bottom-feeding fishes which 
subsist chiefly on shell-fish, crabs, ete. They are considered good 
eating and are sold regularly in the markets. 
They are known to Malays as Yu kéméjan. 
ELECTRIC-RAYS. 
(TORPEDINIDAE.) 
These Rays to which the Malays have given the descriptive 
names Pari kébas or Pari sébar have the power of inflicting 
electric shocks. “The fish” writes Dr. Giinther, “ gives the elec- 
tric shock voluntarily, when it is excited to do so in self defence, 
or intends to stun or kill its prey. The electric currents created 
in these fishes exercise all the other known properties of electricity ; 
they render the needle magnetic, decompose chemical compounds, 
and emit the spark.” 
Our Malayan species are very small. I have a specimen of 
the Pari kebas (Astrape dipterygia) about six inches long and 
there is no record yet of specimens over 18 inches. 
When trawling on the Australian coast we took many speci- 
mens which appeared to be between two and three feet in length 
and one or two new deck hands experienced shocks which appeared 
to cause only momentary inconyenience, 
Cantor says that out of the water they may be handled with 
impunity. 
STING RAYS. 
(TRYGONIDAE.) 
Nearly all the members of this family are provided with long 
whip-like tails, which are generally armed with spines. In the 
larger kinds these formidable spines may be as much as 8 or 9 
inches in length; and, as they wear out they are, from time to 
time, shed and replaced by new ones growing from behind. 
These spines inflict very severe wounds, the pain of which is 
greatly increased by the apparently poisonous cutaneous mucus 
introduced into the wound. 
The Pari beting (Trygon uarnak) attains a large size, 5 feet 
or more across the disk, and a weight of well over 200 pounds. In 
one haul of the trawl in the Bay of Bengal the “ Golden Crown” 
took four of these fish which weighed respectively 180, 170, 160 
and 122 pounds, 
