EAGLE-RAY. 
1095 
to Bonaparte, a weight of 300 Italian pounds (about 
100 kilo.), and the Japanese form, Gunther’s Mylio- 
batis cornuta, which is probably identical in species 
with the Atlantic form, sometimes turns the scale, 
according to Schlegel*, at 400 pounds (about 180 kilo.). 
The genus belongs properly to the tropical and sub- 
tropical seas; but one species has strayed northwards 
within the limits of the Scandinavian fauna. 
THE EAGLE-RAY (sw. ornrockan). 
MYLIOBATIS AQUILA. 
Fig. 311. 
Molars in the middle row within the jaius of adidt specimens 4 — 6 times as broad as long. Tip of the snout 
blunt , with a small , prominent protuberance at the middle. A more or less distinct similar protuberance on the 
front of the upper orbital margin in the males. Anterior margin of the pectoral fins convex , posterior margin 
concave , tip someivhat obtuse. Beginning of the dorsal fin situated about three times the length of its base behind 
the insertions of the ventral fins. Length of the tail at least equal to the breadth of the body between the tips 
of the pectoral fins or greater. Skin quite smooth or roughened with spinulce only at the root of the tail. Colora- 
tion above brownish green or yellowish gray with a bronze lustre , below of a dirty white or grayish brown. Tips 
of the pectoral fins dark. Young sometimes spotted with white. Faint traces of dark transverse bands sometimes 
present on the dorsal side. 
Fig. 311. 
An Eagle-Ray, Myliobatis aquila , o 71 , 
'/e of the natural size. 
From the Museum Adolphi Friderici. 
Syn. Mercg, Aristot., Anim. Hist., lib. V, cap. V. Aigle de mer 
(. Aquila marina ), Belon., Nat., Divers. Poiss., p. 85. Se- 
cunda Pastinacce species, Rondel., Pise. Mar., p. 338. 
Aquila, Salv., Hist, aquat. anim., p. 147. Raja corpore 
glabro, aculeo longo serrato in cauda pinnata; Art.. Ichth. 
Gen., p. 72; Synon ., p. 100. 
Raja aquila, Lin., Syst. Nat., ed. X, tom. I, p. 232; Cuv. 
( Myliobatis , ex Dum.), 1. c.; Johnst. ( Raia ), Proc. Berwicksh. 
Nat. CL, Sept. 1839 (vide Yarr., Brit. Fish., ed. 2, vol. II, 
p. 592); Mull., Henl. ( Myliobatis ), Syst. Beschr. Plagiost., 
p. 176; Dum., Hist. Nat. Poiss. (su. a Buff.), tom. I, p. 
634; Gthr, Cat. Brit. Mas., Fish., vol. VIII, p. 489; Mok., 
Hist. Nat. Poiss. Fr., tom. I, p. 442; Coll., Forh. Vid. 
Selsk. Cbrnia 1882, No. 29; Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel., vol. | 
II, p. 352, tab. CLXXVI; Doderl., Man. Ittiol. Medit., 
fasc. Ill, p. 234; Lillj., Sv., Norg. Fisk., vol. Ill, p. 534. 
Myliobatis noctula, Bonap., Iconogr. Fna Ital., tom. Ill, Pesci, 
tav. 159. 
The Eagle-Ray attains a length of lV 2 m. or more. 
According to Bonaparte, however, it is commonly 
smaller than its Mediterranean congener Myliobatis bo- 
vina, which is characterized by a more pointed and 
more elongated snout and more pointed pectoral fins. 
The rhombic disk is remarkable for its great breadth, 
which is sometimes more than twice its length. The 
a Myliobatis aquila in Sieb., Fna Japon., Pisces, p. 310, tab. CXLII. 
Scandinavian Fishes. 
138 
