Volume 39, Plate XXX / Ichthyology (Fish)

Common Torpedo, Cramp-Fish, or Electric Ray

Torpedo vulgaris

Long known but everywhere rare in British seas, the Common Torpedo has been found at Torbay, Tenby, Cornwall, and other places, varying from two to four feet, cinereous brown above and white beneath. It frequents deep water and a muddy bottom where it lies partly imbedded, feeding chiefly on fish such as surmullet and plaice, which it secures by stupifying them with the honey-comb-like galvanic apparatus ranged on each side of the body.