The rougheye rockfish (''Sebastes aleutianus'') is a

rockfish Rockfish is a common term for several species of fish, referring to their tendency to hide among rocks. The name rockfish is used for many kinds of fish used for food. This common name belongs to several groups that are not closely related, and ca ...

of the genus ''

Sebastes ''Sebastes'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae part of the family Scorpaenidae, most of which have the common name of rockfish. A few are called ocean perch, sea perch or redfish instead. They are found ...

''. It is also known as the blackthroat rockfish, rougheye seaperch, blacktip seaperch, longlife seaperch or the blacktip rockfish and grows to a maximum of about in length, with the

IGFA The International Game Fish Association (''IGFA'') is the leading authority on angling pursuits and the keeper of the most current world record fishing catches by fish categories. Fishermen who are sport fishers and anglers are careful to follow ...

record weight being . Similar to many other members of its genus, it is extremely long-lived, and has been known to reach an age of 205 years.

Taxonomy

The rougheye rockfish was first formally described as ''Sebastodes aleutianus'' in 1898 by the American

ichthyologists Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

David Starr Jordan David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford Universi ...

and

Barton Warren Evermann Barton Warren Evermann (October 24, 1853 – September 27, 1932) was an American ichthyologist. Early life and education Evermann was born in Monroe County, Iowa in 1853. His family moved to Indiana while he was still a child and it was ...

with the type locality given as off Karluk on

Kodiak Island Kodiak Island (, ) is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the Un ...

in the

Shelikof Strait Shelikof Strait () is a strait on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Alaska between the Alaska mainland to the west and Kodiak and Afognak islands to the east. Shelikof Strait separates the mainland coastal strip of the Kodiak Island Bo ...

s in

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. This particular

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

was previously thought to be synonymous with the blackspotted rockfish ('' S. melanostictus''). However, the blackspotted rockfish is now recognized as a distinct and valid species. Both the blackspotted rockfish and the rougheye rockfish are currently classified within the

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

Zalopyr Zalopyr is a subgenus of the genus ''Sebastes''. The etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within ling ...

''. The specific name means of the Aleutian Islands, Kodiak Island used to be considered to be one of the Aleutians.

Description

The rougheye rockfish is so-named because of the two to ten spines found along the lower edge of its orbits. It is pink, tan or brownish with irregular patches of brown of darker color and often a darker patch at the back of the operculum. The posterior part of the

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

is often pink. An average adult size is about .

Distribution and habitat

Rougheye rockfish are deepwater fish, and exist between 31° and 66°

latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...

, in the

North Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

, and specifically along the coast of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

to the

Navarin Canyon The Navarin Canyon is a submarine canyon in the Bering Sea. It is just as wide but less than half as deep as the Zhemchug Canyon, which is the largest canyon in the world. The Navarin Canyon is the third-largest to cut through the Beringian margin ...

in the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea ( , ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre, p=ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasse ...

, to the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands ( ; ; , "land of the Aleuts"; possibly from the Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', or "island")—also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before Alaska Purchase, 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain ...

, all the way south to

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It is found between , with larger fish living in deeper water than smaller ones. The temperature at these depths range from . These fish inhabit areas close to the seabed, often found amid boulders, rocks, and soft substrates, as well as within caves and crevices.

Behavior

During certain periods, rougheye rockfish form schools, but for a considerable duration of the year, larger individuals prefer solitude or tend to move in small groups. It is considered one of the most long-lived fish species, with individuals thought to live for more than two hundred years. These fish prey on

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...

s, fish,

amphipod Amphipoda () is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods () range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 10,700 amphipod species cur ...

s, and

mysid Mysida is an order of small, shrimp-like crustaceans in the malacostracan superorder Peracarida. Their common name opossum shrimps stems from the presence of a brood pouch or "marsupium" in females. The fact that the larvae are reared in thi ...

s for their diet. As an

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings kno ...

species, they reproduce between February and June, occasionally breeding between October and January.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q691364 Sebastes Taxa named by David Starr Jordan Taxa named by Barton Warren Evermann Fish described in 1898 Fish of the Pacific Ocean