''Sebastes miniatus'', the vermilion rockfish, vermilion seaperch, red snapper, red rock cod, and rasher, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

belonging to the subfamily

Sebastinae Sebastinae is a subfamily of marine fish belonging to the Family (biology), family Scorpaenidae in the Order (biology), order Scorpaeniformes. Their common names include rockfishes, rock perches, ocean perches, sea perches, thornyheads, scorpion ...

, the rockfishes, part of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Scorpaenidae The Scorpaenidae (also known as scorpionfish) are a family (biology), family of mostly ocean, marine fish that includes many of the world's most venomous species. As their name suggests, scorpionfish have a type of "sting" in the form of sharp ...

. It is native to the waters of the Pacific Ocean off western North America from

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

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 ...

Taxonomy

''Sebastes miniatus'' was first formally described in 1880 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

Charles Henry Gilbert Charles Henry Gilbert (December 5, 1859 in Rockford, Illinois – April 20, 1928 in Palo Alto, California) was a pioneer ichthyologist and Fisheries science, fishery biologist of particular significance to natural history of the western Unit ...

with the type locality given as Santa Barbara and

Monterey, California Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, California, Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a popu ...

. Some authorities place this species in 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 ...

''Rosicola''. The specific name ''miniatus'' means "bright red" or "scarlet" a reference to the color of the vermilion fins and body.

Description

''Sebastes miniatus'' has a rather stocky body shape with the depth of the body being equivalent to just under two fifths of its

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of fish anatomy, their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is ...

. It has moderately robust to weak spines on its head, the nasal, preocular, supraocular, postocular, tympanic and parietal spines being always present, the nuchal spine usually being absent and the coronal spine never being present. The dorsal fin is continuous with a deep notch separating the spiny and soft rayed parts with the spiny part has a longer base than the soft rayed part with deep incisions on the membranes between the spines. There are 13 spines and 13 to 15 soft rays in the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

while the

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

has 3 spines and 7 soft rays. The lower jaw is rough with large scales. It has deep

caudal peduncle Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only ...

and the

caudal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only ...

has a slight fork. This species attains a maximum

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

of and a maximum published weight of . The color of this species varies from dark red to vermilion with gray or black spotting on the back and flanks. Smaller fishes may have a more mottled pattern than larger fishes. The mouth is red mouth and the red fins are frequently have black margins, again more typical in smaller fishes. Larger individuals show indistinct dark markings on the head and back. There are three indistinct yellow or orange stripes radiating from the eyes. The posterior two thirds 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 ...

has a silvery color.

Distribution and habitat

''Sebastes miniatus'' occurs in the eastern Pacific from San Quintin, Baja California in Mexico north to

Prince William Sound Prince William Sound ( Sugpiaq: ''Suungaaciq'') is a sound off the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the ...

. It is found in and around rocky reefs at depth from .

Biology

''Sebastes miniatus'' may be found in aggregations, in small schools or pairs or even as solitary fish. It is thought that this species can be nomadic and move between reefs. The spines of the dorsal and anal fins have glands in them that can produce a mild venom which may cause painful wounds if they break the skin. The vermilion rockfish is, like other rockfishes,

ovoviviparous Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, ovivipary, or aplacental viviparity is a "bridging" form of reproduction between egg-laying oviparity, oviparous and live-bearing viviparity, viviparous reproduction. Ovoviviparous animals possess embryos that develo ...

, the females give birth to live young and are sexually mature from 4–7 years of age and a length of about . The females extrude the larvae from September to December. The largest females may hold up to 1,600,000 eggs, which hatch internally and the larvae are extruded. The larvae are translucent at first, spending several months offshore among the plankton feeding on zooplankton and gaining color. From the start of February they move inshore and settle. The adults feed almost exclusively on fishes,

squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, and Bathyteuthida (though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also ...

octopus An octopus (: octopuses or octopodes) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like oth ...

es and

krill Krill ''(Euphausiids)'' (: krill) are small and exclusively marine crustaceans of the order (biology), order Euphausiacea, found in all of the world's oceans. The name "krill" comes from the Norwegian language, Norwegian word ', meaning "small ...

Fisheries

''Sebastes miniatus'' is targeted by commercial fisheries and is a major component of the landings of rockfish, frequently caught by

trawling Trawling is an industrial method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch di ...

in deep water as well as by hook and line and

gill net Gillnetting is a fishing method that uses gillnets: vertical panels of netting that hang from a line with regularly spaced floaters that hold the line on the surface of the water. The floats are sometimes called "corks" and the line with corks is ...

s. In California it tends to be caught as bycatch when fishers are targeting bocaccio rockfish (''S. paucispinis''). It is also an important species in recreational fishing and is the third most frequently caught rockfish species by recreational fisheries off California, and the seventh most landed species overall.

References

*This article was originally copied from http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/mspcont4.asp#Vermilion California Marine Sportfish] by the California Department of Fish and Game, Marine Region;
public domain resource

External links

*

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3476852 Sebastes, miniatus Taxa named by David Starr Jordan Taxa named by Charles Henry Gilbert Fish described in 1880