56 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
Chesapeake localities. — -(a) Previous record: “Occasionally enters Chesapeake Bay.” (Uhler 
and Lugger, 1876.) ( b ) Specimens in collection: None. The species was not seen during the 
present investigation, but it was reliably reported by fishermen operating pound nets in the southern 
parts of the bay. 
Family X. — RAJ I D/E. The skates 
Body and head much depressed, united with the pectorals and forming a rhomboid disk; tail 
distinct, stout, rather long, with lateral folds; dorsal fins 2, small, both on the posterior half of the 
tail; eyes and spiracles superior; mouth inferior, small; teeth small, numerous, in pavement; skin 
usually more or less rough, with small spines and larger tubercles. The species are oviparous, the 
eggs being laid in large, leathery, four-angled cases, with two tubular “horns” at each end. 
12. Genus RAJA Linnaeus. Skates 
Disk subquadrangular or subcircular; snout more or less produced, pointed, supported by a 
“rostral cartilage”; spiracles present, close to eyes; teeth small, varying from flat to sharp and 
pointed; pectoral fins not confluent around the snout; ventral fins deeply notched; dorsal fins 2; 
tail with a membranous fold on each side. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES 
a. Snout very blunt, only the tip projecting beyond the general outline of the disk; median line 
of back and tail without a row of enlarged spines; tail with three lateral rows of spines on 
each side; teeth in about 74 series in each jaw diaphanes, p. 56 
aa. Snout acute; median line of back and tail with a series of enlarged spines; tail with a single 
lateral row of enlarged spines on each side; teeth in fewer than 50 series in each jaw. 
b. Dorsal surface mostly beset with bony prickles; snout only moderately acute; teeth in about 
48 series in each jaw; dark markings on dorsal surface mostly elongate.- eglanteria, p. 58 
bb. Dorsal surface largely smooth; snout very acute; teeth in 32 to 36 series in each jaw; dark 
markings on dorsal surface roundish stabuliforis, p. 59 
aaa. Snout moderate, more pointed than in diaphanes but less so than in eglanteria and stabuliforis ; 
median line of back nearly or quite without tubercles; tail with two to four lateral rows of 
enlarged spines; teeth in about 50 series in each jaw erinacea, p. 60 
13. Raja diaphanes Mitchill. Common skate; Spotted skate. 
Raja diaphanes Mitchill, Trans., Lit. and Philo. Soe., N. Y., I, 1814, p. 478; New York. Garman, 1913, p. 339, pi. 22, fig. 1. 
Raja ocellala Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 68, PI. X, fig. 30. 
Disk broader than long, the anterolateral margin double concave, a slight concavity opposite 
snout and a very broad one opposite eyes and spiracles, the posterolateral margin broadly and evenly 
convex, length of disk 1.15 to 1.25 in its width, the width of disk 1.45 to 1.6 in total length; head to 
first gill slit 2.95 in width of disk; distance from snout to vent, 1.25; tip of snout projecting beyond 
the general outline of the disk, the length of snout 4.5 to 5.35 in width of disk; preoral length of 
snout 1.75 in head; interorbital (bone) 1.8 to 2.4 in snout; eye 5.55; spiracles immediately back of 
eyes, the longest diameter somewhat greater than the length of eye; nasoral groove extending to 
mouth; teeth in about 74 series in each jaw, each tooth with a roundish base, surmounted by a 
very low, blunt cusp, at least in the posterior, or newer, series; skin in the female on upper surface 
largely beset with prickles and spines; median part of head naked, also the snout, except the tip, 
which bears enlarged spines; the anterolateral margin of disk with a band of enlarged spines continued 
as intramarginal spines posteriorly; no definite spines or tubercles on median line of back or tail; 
three lateral rows of spines on each side, beginning on middle of back and extending backward on 
the tail, becoming larger posteriorly; the upper surface in the male somewhat less prickly, but with 
the spines on the margins of the disk larger; tail moderate, depressed, with dermal keel along lower 
ventral edges, 2.1 in total length; dorsal fins 2, close together; caudal fin represented by a dermal 
fold; ventral fins long, inserted somewhat in advance of posterior margin of disk, greatly thickened 
at the base, the fins rather deeply notched. 
</ 
