62 
BULLETIN OF THE BUBEAU OF FISHERIES 
13. Genus TORPEDO Dumeril. Electric rays 
Disk broader than long, subcircular; snout short, broad; tail short, distinct, with a large 
caudal fin and a low dermal keel on each side; spiracles moderate, placed at a short distance back 
of the eye, without fringes on the margins; mouth crescent-shaped, with a longitudinal fold on 
each side; dorsal fins 2; ventral fins separate and distinct. A single species is known from the 
Atlantic coast of the United States. 
17. Torpedo nobiliana Bonaparte. Torpedo; Electric ray; Crampfish 
Torpedo nobiliana Bonaparte, Fauna Ital., 1832, fasc. 12; Italy. 
Torpedo occidcnlaUs Uhler and Lugger, 1876, ed. I, p. 188; ed. II, p. 159. 
Tetronarcc occidentalis Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 77, PI. XI, fig. 33. 
Narcacion nobilianus Garman, 1913, p. 310, pi. 25, fig. 2; pi. 61, figs. 4 and 5. 
Disk broader than long, the sides broadly rounded, the anterior margin slightly concave; 
tail short, thick, depressed, tapering abruptly, with a dermal fold on each side; spiracles close behind 
the eyes, their edges not fringed; mouth large, crescent-shaped, with a groove at each angle; teeth 
small, broad-based, witli acute crowns on inner edges; skin smooth and unarmed; first dorsal about 
twice as large as the second, its origin in advance of the posterior edges of ventrals; caudal fin large, 
its posterior margin slightly rounded to slightly concave posteriorly. 
Fig. 34. 
Torpedo nobiliana 
Color above, uniform dark brown; mostly white underneath; the edges of the disk and the 
ventrals underneath purplish; caudal peduncle with irregular dark markings along ventral edges. 
Day (1880-1884, p. 331) records the color of European specimens as dull reddish gray or dull ash 
above, dashed with purple, and white below, sometimes with ill-defined blotches on the dorsal 
surface. 
A single large (female) specimen, -weighing about 100 pounds, was taken during the present 
investigation, upon which the following measurements are based: 
Inches 
Total length. 
Width of disk 
Length to base of first dorsal. . . 
Distance between dorsal fins. .. 
Interorbital (bone) 
Space between spiracles 
Length of base of first dorsal... 
Length of base of second dorsal. 
Height of first dorsal 
Height of second dorsal 
Greatest width of caudal fin — 
47.6 
35. 6 
31.1 
2. 1 
1.6 
2.6 
3.1 
1.7 
3.9 
2.6 
10.5 
