Giant Fish of Florida 
As a trophy, the back of this ray, with its black ground 
and small white rings within larger ones, characteristic of old 
fish, makes a handsome table cover. The tail is about six feet 
in length, and less in thickness than a cedar pencil, and at its 
base are three or four barbed spears. It feeds entirely on 
crustacea, never taking a fish bait, and is caught only by foul 
hooking. In the roof of the whip ray’s mouth will be seen a 
series of processes like corrugated grinding stones, and there is 
a corresponding series on the lower jaw. It is between these 
that the shell fish are thoroughly triturated. I have some- 
where read that the male rays have sharper teeth and no 
grinding arrangement, but I am not sufficiently acquainted 
with the sex distinctions to bear this out. 
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