40 MARVELS OF FISH LIFE 



rasped off the skin, and for a fortnight after, when I 

 dipped my arm in sea-water, I was reminded of that 

 fish! 



In the illustrations of the dog-fish shown, the shape 

 and general character of the shark family are well 

 illustrated. Note the position of the mouth, the long 

 slender body, so well adapted for moving rapidly through 

 the water, and the powerful tail, of which the upper lobe 

 is much larger than the lower. 



I have already referred to the manner in which the 

 female dog-fish attaches her eggs to the seaweed. One 

 of the illustrations shows her swimming round a rock. 

 This fish deposited an egg a few hours after the photo- 

 graph was taken. 



Of skates and rays we have several kinds, but the 

 common skate and the thornback ray are those usually 

 met with. These fish pass most of their time near the 

 bottom, swimming about with an undulating movement 

 of the large wing-like fins, one on each side of their 

 flattened bodies. 



Their diet consists mainly of crabs, oysters, whelks, 

 mussels, small fish and the young of the plaice and sole. 

 Not infrequently herrings and other surface-swimming 

 fishes have been found inside the stomachs of larger 

 rays, and because of this it has been stated that rays 

 sometimes feed near the surface. This is very unlikely, 

 for I am sure the clumsy ray could only catch the 

 herring when that fish was unaware of its presence. 

 The probable explanation is that occasionally herring 



