CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. y 



The Big Skate (Raja binoculata). 

 Tliis skate may be known from any others of its family ])y the shallow 

 notch in the ventral fins. When the front edge of the ventral fin is 

 held at a right angle with the tail, its outer edge is nearly straight, as 

 in fig. 8. The rostral ridges are grown together along their front 

 fourth only. The upper part of the body is everywhere covered with 

 very small prickles, uniform in size, and as fine or finer than those that 

 compose shagreen, but not nearly so closely placed. These are absent 

 in the young. There are from 1 to 3 rows of irregular spines along the 

 back of the tail. The color is dull olive brown, or drab, with a large 

 dusky spot at the pectoral base blended into the body color. Light 



Fig. 10. The big skate Raja binoculata. Adult male. 



spots as large as the eye are scattered over the body and form a ring 

 around the pectoral spot. The diameter of the ring is always much 

 greater than the space between the eyes. 



This skate is common from Monterey Bay northward to Alaska. It 

 reaches a length of over 6 feet. Its egg cases are nearly a foot in length, 

 and each contains from one to six eggs or young. 



The starry Skate (Raja stellulata). 



This skate may be known from others of its family by the almost 

 entire absence of the rostral ridges, the rostral cartilages being very 

 slender rods that can scarcely be detected. It also differs from all but 

 the rock skate in having the body at each side of the snout convex 

 instead of concave, and in having a straight line drawn from the tip of 

 the snout to the outer pectoral angle, everywhere passing inside of the 

 outline of the body. Small sharp prickles are scattered everywhere 

 over the upper surface of the body, and a series of enlarged spines runs 

 down the middle of the back and tail. The color is grayish brown with 

 small dark spots scattered over the back. A large, irregular, yellow 

 spot ringed with brown is sometimes just behind the middle of the body 



