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Rays and Skates of Devon and Cornwall. III. The Proportions of the Sexes in Nature and in Commercial Landings, and their Significance to the Fishery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

G. A. Steven
G. A. Steven
Affiliation:
Assistant Naturalist at the Plymouth Laboratory.
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Extract

The belief for long was held by early investigators that among most if not among all Elasmobranch fishes the number of females in the stocks exceeded that of the males. As long ago as 1884 Day (4, p. 345) remarked concerning the Thornback Ray, Raia clavata, “It has been said that the number of females is in excess of that of the males.” Haacke (9, p. 246), writing in 1885, says of the Sharks and Rays which he had observed in South Australian waters, “Bei den südaustralischen Haien und Rochen, auf deren Fang ich zu wiederholten Malen ausgezogen bin und von denen mir auch nicht selten Exemplare für das Adelaider Museum zugeschickt wurden, habe ich die Wahrnehmung gemacht, dass Männchen verhältnismässig sehr selten gefangen werden. Ob diese Wahrnehmung auch anderswo gemacht worden ist, weiss ich nicht, jedoch ist es nicht unwahrscheinlich; in der mir zu Gebote stehenden Litteratur finde ich nichts darüber. Die seltenheit der geschlechtsreifen Männchen, soweit sie sich wenigstens durch die Fangresultate dokumentiert, gilt für sämtliche Species der ziemlich artenreichen südaustralischen Selachierfauna.”

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , January 1933 , pp. 611 - 625
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1933

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References

LITERATURE CONSULTED

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