[ii] Plānōrum piscium alterum est genus, quod prō spīnā cartilāginem habet, ut raiae, pastinācae, squātinae, … │ There is another kind of flat fish, which has cartilage instead of a spine, such as rays, stingrays, skates, …
pastināca,
-ae [1/f]; raia, -ae [1/f] pastināca (in this topic) sting-ray
[iii] And Pliny
distinguishes the stingray by highlighting its dangers. Here he is referring to
poisonous creatures:
sed nūllum usque
execrābilius quam radius super caudam ēminēns trȳgonis, quam nostrī pastinācam appellant, … arborēs īnfīxus
rādīcī necat, arma ut tēlum perforat vī ferrī et venēnī mālō.
But nothing is
more accursed than the spine projecting above the tail of the trygon
(stingray), which our people call pastinaca; … when driven into the root
of a tree, it kills it, and as a weapon it pierces armour with the force of
both iron and evil poison.
cauda,
-ae [1/f]: tail
radius,
-ī [2/m]: various meanings including (here) the spine of the fish
trȳgōn, -is, [3/m]: alternative noun (from Gk.) referring to the stingray
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