RHINIDJS. 327 



JRhina dumerilii, Gill, Cat. Fisli. E. C. N. Amer. p. 61 ; Dumeril, 1. c. p. 467, 

 pi. v, f. 6 (scales). 



Monk-fish, Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, i, p. 73, pi. xvii. 



Body broad and flattened horizontally. The width of the disk somewhat 

 exceeds its length. Vent about midway between the anterior extremity of the 

 snout and the posterior end of the caudal fin. Eyes — very wide apart. Spiracles 

 wide, somewhat crescentic in shape and about one diameter of the orbit behind 

 the eyes. Mouth wide and anterior. Nostrils with a skinny flap and barbel-like 

 prolongations. Teeth — conical, sharp, and laterally at some distance apart but in 

 several rows. Fins — the two dorsals are of nearly the same size. Caudal lobed, 

 the lower somewhat the longer. Skin — that of the upper surface with fine 

 asperities and a row of rather enlarged ones, approaching to spines, along the 

 median line of the back. Male claspers small and weak. Colours — -brownish- 

 gray, with dark blotches and whitish but irregular lines and spots. Fins — mostly 

 light-edged. The colour of this fish is subject to variation, dependant upon the 

 nature of the ground on which it lives, wdiile the sexes also show a little 

 difference. 



Varieties. — Besides those of colour, the eye in some specimens is larger than 

 in others as S. oculata, etc. 



Names. — Angel-fish, due to its pectoral fins resembling wings. Monk- fish, 

 from the fancied appearance of a cowl on its head. Shark-ray, from its relation- 

 ship to both families. Fiddle-fish, from its shape. Puppy-fish; Sea-devil, 

 Cornwall. Kingston, Kent and Sussex. Mongrel-skate, Firth of Forth. Maelgi, 

 Welsh. De Zee-en gel, Dutch. L'ange, French. 



Habits. — A very voracious ground-feeder, which arrives off our coasts from 

 the deep sea during the spring months, and is especially partial to flat-fishes, 

 to obtain which it conceals itself in the sand or mud. While swimming 

 it does so by a powerful sculling action of its oar- like tail, and not by 

 the aid of its pectoral fins as in the rays. It is said to have a strong ammo- 

 niacal odour. Thompson found in the stomach of one, a female, several dabs 

 and plaice, five of which were nearly whole and had been from 5ij to 8| 

 inches long, portions of other fish, scales of mullet, not less than fifty eyes of 

 other fish, and a bundle of Zostera marina about 4 inches long and 3 broad. On 

 July 14th, 1881, some fishermen visiting their crab pots near St. Austin's Cove 

 saw a cormorant splashing in the water, and on using a gaff secured an Angel-fish 

 about three feet long which had seized the bird by the wing and then held it 

 under water (Field, July 23rd, 1881). Couch found in one, which was 4| feet 

 long, twenty-eight opercula of whelks, fragments of small fishes, and two stones 

 about the size of nutmegs. Pennant mentions how a fisherman was severely 

 bitten in the leg by one he was removing from his net. 



Means of capture. — Frequently trawled or taken in trammels and seine nets, or 

 on the long lines set for rays and ground fish. 



Breeding. — Buckland mentions having received in August, 1880, from 

 Yarmouth one of these fishes in which there " were several eggs with soft skins 

 like crocodile eggs." Couch observes that it brings forth about twenty-five young at 

 a birth, and upon having found the eggs about the size of walnuts in May and the 

 young expelled about July. Bloch asserts that it produced in the spring and 

 autumn from seven to eight young. 



As food. — Willughby says its flesh is hard and unsavoury ; Dillwyn that 

 from the coarseness and rankness of its flesh he has found evidence for nearly a 

 century to show that it has only been purchased at Swansea by the poor, and 

 rarely sold for more than \d a poivnd ; but Butty states that the French had a 

 way of dressing them, and to this day they are seen in the Dieppe markets. 



Uses. — Off Cornwall it is taken in trammels by the crabbers for bait. Else- 

 where it is mostly employed for manure; formerly its skin, which is rough, was 

 used for polishing wood, and ivory as well as covering the hilts of swords, 

 instrument cases, and sheaths for knives. Its eggs in times gone by were dried 

 and used medicinally, while its skin was also dried and when powdered prescribed 

 for itch and other skin diseases. 



