276 



HISTORY OF FISHES. 



is furnished. To the ignorant it seems harm- 

 less, and a man would at first sight venture to 

 take it in his hand, without any apprehension ; 

 but he soon finds, that there is not a single 

 part of its body that is not armed with spines ; 

 and that there is no way of seizing the animal 

 but by the little fin at the end of the tail. 



But this animal is harmless, when com- 

 pared to the fire-flare, which seems to be the 

 dread of even the boldest and most exper- 

 ienced fishermen. 1 The weapon with which 



1 The Rays, or Skate, as they are popularly called, 

 are remarkable for the rhomboidal form and consequent 

 breadth of their bodies, contrasted with their long narrow 

 tails, frequently furnished with two and sometimes three 

 small fins, and mostly armed with one or more rows of 

 sharp spines along the whole length. The whole body is 

 very much depressed ; the great breadth of it is produced 

 by the expansion of what are considered as the pectoral 

 fins, the base of each of which is equal to the whole 

 length of the side of the fish. The Skate may almost 

 be considered as having no true head or neck, the sides 

 of both being included and thus protected by the ex- 

 panded anterior margin of each pectoral fin. The nos- 

 trils, mouth, branchial and anal apertures, are on the 

 under surface ; the eyes and temporal orifices on the 

 upper surface. The texture of the skin of the body varies 

 considerably, and will be referred to when describing the 

 different species. From the peculiar form of the body, 

 admirably adapted to exist at the bottom of the water, 

 the skate may with more propriety be called a Flatfish 

 than any species of the Plevronectid*. Their mode of 

 progression is not very easily described : it is, when they 

 are not alarmed, performed with a slight motion of the 

 pectoral fins, something between a slide and a swim. 

 I once heard a North-country fisherman call it sludder- 

 ing. When a skate makes the best of its way either to 

 gain a prize in the matter of food, or to escape an enemy, 

 great muscular exertion is evident. The mode of de- 

 fending itself, as described by Mr Couch, is very effect- 

 ual : the point of the nose and the base of the tail are 

 bent upwards toward each other ; the upper surface of 

 the body being then concave, the tail is lashed about in 

 all directions over it and the rows of sharp spines fre- 

 quently inflict severe wounds. 



Eight species of true Rays are found on the coasts of 

 this country, four of which have the snout more or less 

 elongated and sharp, and four have blunt noses, two of 

 the latter being furnished with numerous sharp spines on 

 various parts of the surface of the body. The skate, as 

 food, are held in very different degrees of estimation in 

 different places. In London, particularly, large quan- 

 tities are consumed, and the flesh is considered delicate 

 and well-flavoured ; but on some parts of the coast, 

 though caught in considerable numbers, both by lines 

 and nets, the flesh is seldom devoted to any purpose be- 

 yond that of baiting pots for catching crabs and lobsters, 

 skate are in the best condition for the table during au- 

 tumn and winter. In spring, and in the early part of 

 summer, they are usually maturing eggs or young, and 

 their flesh is then soft and woolly. 



The Long Noted Skate is immediately distinguished 

 from any other skate found on the British coast, not only 

 by the great length of the nose, but also by the distance 

 between its most extreme point and the transverse line 

 of the mouth ; characters particularly observable in com- 

 parison with the species next in order, with which it 

 most assimilates in colour. The snout is very much 

 produced, narrow and sharp, slender as far as the eyes, 

 from whence the body dilates gradually to its greatest 

 breadth, which is behind the centre; the whole length 



nature has armed this animal, which grows 

 from the tail, and which we described as 

 barbed, and five inches long, hath been an 

 instrument of terror to the ancient fishermen 



of the body and tail one-third longer than the width. 

 On the upper surface the body is slightly roughened, and 

 of a light lead colour ; the tail rather more rough, with 

 a row of large crooked spines on each side of the central 

 line, and this species is observed never to have more or 

 less than these two lateral rows ; the small fins on the 

 tail not far removed from each other, the second about 

 its own length from the end The under surface is a 

 dirty grayish white, marked with dusky specks like the 

 true skate, but the body is thinner in substance than 

 either that or the sharp-nosed skate: the nostrils are 

 lobed ; the mouth narrow ; the teeth in old males sharp, 

 with frequently nine or ten spines above the eyes ; on 

 the snout two rows of minute tubercular spines ; behind 

 the head seven or eight spines ranged in a line along the 

 dorsal ridge ; towards the outer upper edge of the pec- 

 toral fins on each side are the usual rows of sharp hooked 

 spines, and close to the tail the long pendant daspers. By 

 some of the West-country fishermen this species is called 

 the Dun Cow; it attains considerable size, and is said to 

 feed on sand-eels and sand-launce. According to Mr 

 Couch, it frequents deep water, and is not caught through 

 the winter: fishermen state that it is exceedingly violent 

 when hooked. I may here state generally, that the 

 greater part of the skate brought to market are taken in 

 the trawlnets. 



The Skate called in Scotland Blue Skate, and Gray 

 Skate. This species, which is frequently called the 

 True Skate to distinguish it from the thornback and 



homelyn, which are also popularly called skate, Is not so 

 commonly taken as either, but is still better than either 

 as an article of food. It appears to be found among the 

 Orkneys, and on the coasts of Scotland r where it is called 

 blue skate and gray skate. From thence southward as 

 far as Kent, and again westward to Cornwall, it is found 

 along the whole line of coast. In Ireland, the skate is 

 taken from Cork up the east coast to Antrim, and from 

 thence northward and westward to Londonderry and 

 Donegal. At Lyme Regis, on account of its dusky gray 

 colour, it is called the tinker. 



In this species both sexes when adult have sharp teeth, 

 the points beginning to elongate by the time the body of 

 the fish has attained the breadth of twelve or fourteen 

 inches. The females are generally called maids; and 

 fishermen distinguish the females of the three species o) 

 most frequent occurrence by the names of skate maid, 

 thornback maid, and homelyn maid, frequently calling 

 the old male of the skate with his two long appendages the 

 three-tailed skate. In each of these species the females 

 are observed to be much more numerous as well as larger 

 than the males. Pennant mentions having seen a skate 



