REVIEW OF LOCAL FLSHES 37 



Numerous species of Stin«5 K:iys occur on southern coasts and one 

 of these, the Common Sting Ray, reaches our shores in sununcT. Its 

 disk is roundish, with a wide an«i;le at the snout, and its p;reatest breadth 

 forward. Its tail is long;, slender, finless, whip-like, more than twice 

 the length of the disk, with a wing-like expansion below, armed near the 

 base with a single large, dangerous, saw-edged spine. This species 

 reaches a very large size. It may sometimes be seen through clear water 

 lying on the bottom. The Butterfly Ray is a small southern species not 

 more than two feet in length that sometimes reaches our waters. It has 

 the disk much broader than long and a small mouse-like tail about one 

 third as long as the disk. Well-named Butterfly Ray, it flits through the 

 water with its great wings much as butterflies through the air. 



In the Cow-nosed Ray the disk formed by the body and breast fins 

 is diamond shaped, pointed at the sides, about one third broader than 

 long. The head is convex, not flattened as in the skate or sting ray. The 

 tail is lash-like, a little longer than the disk, with a small back fin fol- 

 lowed by a saw-edged spine at its base; the muzzle deeply emarginate, 

 color brownish. It reaches a large size, has hard paved teeth for eating 

 mollusks, and is said to be particularly destructive to the soft clam. 



II. Sturgeon and Gars 



(Ganoidei) 



In the course of geologic time, before the modern hard-boned, 

 compact fishes covered with thin overlapping scales had been evolved, 

 the waters contained soft-skeletoned species which are sometimes 

 classed together in a heterogeneous group called Ganoids. Remnants of 

 this tribe still remain scattered over the world, now everywhere in the 

 minority. The Sturgeons, noted for the ''caviar" which is made from 

 their eggs, belong to it. The Common Sturgeon is a large fish reaching a 

 length of eight feet, which enters the rivers of our Atlantic coast from the 

 sea, as it also does those of Europe. Its snout is long and pointed, its 

 rather small mouth situated on the lower side of the head, its tail un- 

 symmetrical, somewhat shark-like, and its body instead of being 

 covered with scales is armed with rows of hard bony plates. Formerly 

 common in our waters during the summer^ it has been too diligently 

 fished for and has become rare. A much smaller species, reaching a length 

 of only two feet, also occurs with us. It is known as the Short-nosed 

 Sturgeon and has the snout comparatively short and blunt, only about 

 one fourth as long as the head. 



