FISHERV BULLETIN. \0L. 69, NO. 2 



ceding neural spines 5 and 8 or 9. Caudal skel- 

 eton apparently with hypurals 2 and 3 and 4 and 

 5 fused into upper and lower plates, respectively, 

 as determined for other scorpaenid representa- 

 tives by Quast (1965:580). Point of enlarged 

 pterygiophore that supports anal fin spines I 

 and II contacts haemal arch of 11th vertebra, 

 here considered the first caudal vertebra. 



ELECTROPHORETIC PATTERN 



A standardized starch gel electrophaerogram 

 of haemoglobin from a male adult S. variegatus 

 (BC 70-2, from Queen Charlotte Sound, British 

 Columbia), with comparative material on S. 

 zacentrus, was kindly furnished by Henry Tsu- 

 yuki of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 

 (Figure 4).' 



S. variegatus 

 S. zacentrus 



I I S. variegatus 

 I I S. zacentrus 



t 



Figure 4. — Comparative starch gel electrophaero- 

 grams of the haemoglobins from S. variegatus and 

 S. zacentrus furnished by Henry Tsuyuki, Fisheries 

 Research Board of Canada (see text). The arrow 

 represents the origin in the schematized pattern. 

 The anode is to the right and the cathode to the left. 

 The minor cathodal zone, which Tsuyuki found to be 

 consistently diagnostic for the two species, could not 

 be reproduced photographically and is shown in 

 schematic form in approximately the concentrations 

 found. 



' Vancouver Laboratory, 6640 NW. Marine Drive, 

 Vancouver 8, British Columbia, 28 July 1970. "f:ry- 

 throcytes were washed once with a 1% sodium chloride 

 solution before hemolysis to avoid contamination from 

 serum proteins. Haemoglobins from washed and un- 

 washed red cells possessed identical patterns." For 

 methods used in obtaining blood samples and for elec- 

 trophoresis, see Tsuyuki et al. (1968). Identity of the 

 S. variegatus specimen verified by the author; how- 

 ever, the specimen had a head size much larger than 

 normal (38.3% of SL) and was the only specimen out 

 of 40 seen that had 6 soft rays in the anal fin instead 

 of 7. 



SIMILAR SPECIES 



Sebastes variegatus resembles S. emphaeus, S. 

 proriger. S. saxicoki., S. ivilsoni, and S. zacentrus 

 in morphology, morphometry, meristics, and col- 

 oration. The six species appear to be closely 

 related members of a complex that generally 

 shares the characters of S. variegatus other than 

 the pectoral count of 18, the unpigmented band 

 that encloses the lateral line and extends about 

 2/3 along the body sides, and the black color- 

 ation of the spinous dorsal and caudal fin mem- 

 branes. The complex may also include S. dalli, 

 S. elongatus, S. jordani, and S. semicinctus 

 which also seem to resemble the six species, but 

 these appear to be easier to diflFerentiate from 

 S. variegatus and I do not further consider them 

 here. Although the analyses of rockfish haemo- 

 globin and muscle proteins by Tsuyuki et al. 

 (1968) shed little light on the group's validity, 

 subsequent work by Tsuyuki (see footnote 3) 

 suggests a close relationship between S. varie- 

 gatus and S. zacentrus (Figure 4). The possi- 

 bility that S. variegatus represents a hybrid may 

 be dismissed because of a normal degree of var- 

 iation in measurements, distinctiveness and con- 

 sistency of pectoral ray counts and body col- 

 oration, abundance of specimens, and normal 

 reproduction as indicated by normally developed 

 gonads and gravid females. 



As a natural group, the six species do not ap- 

 pear to coincide with those at the subgeneric 

 level erected by Cramer, Eigenmann, and Beeson, 

 or Jordan and Evermann, as described by Jord- 

 an and Evermann (1898. II: 1765-1777). How- 

 ever, in some respects it does resemble the sub- 

 genus Hatumeus, erected by Matsubara (1943b: 

 192) under Sebastes. and the type species, Se- 

 bastodes owstoni, as figured by Jordan and 

 Thompson (1914: pi. 31, fig. 3). 



Ranges of meristic characters for most spe- 

 cies in the hypothetical grouii (from Phillips 

 (1957) plus personal examination of representa- 

 tives — Table 5) either are nearly identical (soft 

 rays in the dorsal, anal, and pectoral fins) or 

 overlap broadly (pored scales in the lateral line, 

 gill rakers, and .scale rows below lateral line). 

 In characteristics for which most of the group 

 are nearly identical, S. variegatus deviates mark- 



396 



