SKATES. 
1115 
THE SHAGREEN SKATE (sw. goicrocican). 
RAJA FULLONICA. 
Fig. 320 and Plate L, fig. 1. 
Length of the snout about 12 — 14 % of that of the body or 20 — 24 % of the breadth of the disk. Distance 
between each nostril and the tip of the snout about 17 % of the said breadth or nearly tivice ( 175 — 200 % of) 
the internasal width. Aculei grooved. No aculei in the median line of the back and tail. 
Fig. 320. 
Shagreen Skate ( Raja fullonica ), 9? Vs na ^- size- The Cattegat, July, 1835. B. Fries, a, a tooth, magnified, lateral and 
outer aspects, b , a dermal aculeus. 
Syn. Raja aspera nostras, the White Horse dicta, Willughb., Hist. 
Pise., p. 78; Ray, Synops. Meth. Pise., p. 26. Raja toto 
dorso aculeato, duplici ordine aculeorum in cauda, simpli- 
cique ad oculos, Art., Ichtli., Gen. Pise., p. 72; Syn. Pise., 
p. 101. Shagreen Ray, Penn., Brit. Zool. (ed. 1776), vol. 
Ill, p. 77. 
Raja Fullonica , Lin., Syst. Nat., ed. X, tom. I, p. 231 ; 
Rathke in Ascan., Icon. Rer. Nat., ad. tab. XLIII; Fr., Vet. 
Akad. Handl. 1838, p. 150, tab. II, fig. 2, tab. Ill, figg. 5 
et 9; Mull., Hle, Plagiost., p. 145; Kr., Damn. Fisk., 
vol. Ill, p. 996; Nilss., Skancl. Fna, Fisk., p. 737; Yarr., 
Brit. Fish., ed. 2, vol. II, p. 578; Gthr, Cat. Brit. Mus,, 
Fish., vol. VIII, p . 467; Coll., Forli. Vid. Selsk. Chrnia 
1874, Tillaegsli., p. 217; 1879, No. 1, p. 106; N. Mag. 
Naturv. Chrnia, Bd 29 (1884), p. 119; Malm ( Leucoraja ), 
Gbgs, Boh. Fna, p. 609; Winth. {Raja), Naturh. Tidskr. 
Kbhvn, ser. 3, vol. XII, p. 61; Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel., 
vol. II, p. 342, tab. CLXX; Lillj., Sv., Norg. Fisk., vol. Ill, 
p. 569. 
Raja chagrinea, Mont., Mem. Wern. Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. II, 
p. 420, tab. XXI; Parn., ibid., vol. VII, p. 431, tab. XLI; 
Couch, Fish. Brit. Isl., vol. I, p. 117, tab. XXIX; Mor., 
Hist. Nat. Poiss. Fr., tom. I, p. 401 ; D6derl., Man. Ittiol. 
Medit., fasc. Ill, p. 172; Carus, Prodr. Fnce Medit., vol. II, 
p. 521. 
Raja aspera, Flmng, Brit. Anim., p. 172. 
The ordinary dimensions of the Shagreen Skate, 
as it is brought home by the deep-sea fishermen of 
Bohuslan from the fishing-banks off Jutland and Nor- 
way, are a length of about 1 m. and a breadth of about 
6 dm. At this size it has reached full sexual maturity. 
According to Moreau its length varies between 8 and 
12 dm. 
The form of the disk is rhombic. The distance 
from the tip of the snout to the hind margin of the 
ventral fins is about equal to the greatest breadth of 
the body. The anterior side-margins of the disk are 
undulate, somewhat concave, so that the most promi- 
nent margin of the head falls short of the line between 
the tip of the snout and that of either pectoral fin. 
