Mallorca

"It is a well-known fact that the wealth of fish is greater around the coast of these islands than along the continental shore. It is also true that numerous deep sea fish approach these islands with greater ease and frequency, enriching the fauna in the waters bathing these islands. However, Mallorca not only owes this to the great variety of fish but also to the fact of its relative proximity to the African coast and the ocean, thus receiving a supplementary affluence of shapes which, in general, don’t reach the eastern Mediterranean.

By contrast, worth noting is the enormous variety of Elasmobranchii (“cartilaginous fish”), of which 41 species have been catalogued and which the Mallorcans refer to commonly as bastina or bastrina.

The most frequent are Batis radula and Dasyatis asterias stingrays, present nearly all year,  while Dasyatis clavata and Laeviraja oxyrhynchus are abundant especially in spring and summer. Also very common are the torpedo rays, Torpedo narke and T. galvanii, known commonly by the name tremoló without further precision.

Two species of hammerhead sharks also visit these waters; the common Sphyrna malleus does so all year, while on limited occasions in spring S. tudes arrives.

Also quite common are the houndsharks, Mustelus laevis and M. stellatus, in addition to the ground sharks, Scyllium stellare and S. canicula."

Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria. Las Baleares por la palabra y el grabado. Majorca: General Part. Ed. Sa Nostra, Caja de Baleares. Palma de Mallorca. 1982.