Author: Bonaparte, 1835
Torpedo (Tetronarce) nobiliana Bonaparte, 1835
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Torpedo (Tetronarce) nobiliana Bonaparte, 1835 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: first dorsal fin distinctly larger than second. Two large nuchal pores side by side. Spiracles with smooth margins, no tentacles or papillae. Colour: usually plain dark violet/brown above, sometimes with indistinct darker dots and white spots; underside white to cream, often with dusky margins to disc and pelvic fins. Size: to about 180 cm TL.
Habitat: juveniles mainly benthic on soft bottoms from 10 to 150 m, but single records down to 350 m; adults frequently pelagic or semi-pelagic. Adults seem regularly to swim singly, reported migrating over great distances. Food: predominantly fishes, sometimes quite large. Reproduction: ovoviviparous; little information, but gestation probably about a year and the juveniles set free offshore; up to 60 embryos have been found, depending on size of female.
Distribution: northward to Scotland (rare in North Sea), whole of Mediterranean, but not Black Sea. Elsewhere, southward to South Africa and also in western Atlantic (Cuba and Florida Keys north to Nova Scotia).
Complementary iconography. D'Ancona, 1931: pl. 33 | Bini, 1967: 133-134, fig.
Eggs, embryonic and young stages. Bigelow and Schroeder, 1953: 101, fig. 23 (embryo) | Capapé, 1974 b: 263.