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Sebastes Information

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Sebastes is a genus of fish in the family Sebastidae (though some include this in Scorpaenidae), most of which have the common name of rockfish. Most of the world's almost 110 Sebastes species live in the north Pacific, although two (S. capensis and S. oculatus) live in the south Pacific/Atlantic and four (S. fasciatus, S. marinus, S. mentella and S. viviparus) live in the north Atlantic. The coast off South California is the area of highest rockfish diversity, with 56 species living in the Southern California Bight.

The fossil record of rockfish goes back to the Miocene, from California and Japan (although fossil otoliths from Belgium, "Sebastes" weileri, may push the record back as far as the Oligocene).

Rockfish range from the intertidal zone to almost 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) deep, usually living benthically on various substrates, often (as the name suggests) around rock outcrops. Some rockfish species are very long lived, amongst the longest living fish on earth, with a maximum reported age of 205 years for S. aleutianus (Cailliet et al. 2001).

Rockfish are an important sport and commercial fish, and many species have been overfished. As a result seasons are tightly controlled in many areas.

Species

A gopher rockfish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Greenspotted rockfish at the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. Starry rockfish. Black rockfish. A rockfish in the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Sebastes marinus at the New England Aquarium. Blue rockfish at the Vancouver Aquarium. China rockfish at the Vancouver Aquarium. Sebastes pachycephalus. Treefish.

References

  1. ^ Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology 364: p.560. http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class. Retrieved 2007-12-25.
Works cited

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