Volume 39, Plate XXXI / Ichthyology (Fish)

Starry Ray & Sting Ray, or Common Trygon

Raia radiata & Trygon pastinacea

1. Starry Ray. Resembling the Thornback in its armature but otherwise dissimilar, the Starry Ray has a very obtuse head, large spines on broad radiated oval bases, and three regular series along the tail, the under side perfectly smooth and white. Perhaps the smallest of the British Rays at about eighteen inches long, it appears a northern species, taken in Berwick Bay and frequently in the Firth of Forth in April and May, its flesh equal to the maiden-skate.
2. Sting Ray, or Common Trygon. The only sting ray found here in quantity, the Common Trygon was known to the earliest British naturalists and is most frequent on the southern coast, ranging as far north as the Firth of Forth. Keeping on sandy ground near land and wandering into shallow water in summer, it scarcely ever takes a bait and defends itself by twisting its long slender tail and tearing with the serrated spine, formerly but wrongly thought poisonous.