FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 85, NO. 1 



Table 1. — Previous studies involving Scorpaena guttata. Not in- 

 cluded are geographical species lists. 



Systematics. —Gnard 1854, 1858; David 1943; Phillips 1957; 

 Tsuyuki et al. 1968; Eschmeyer and Bailey 1970; Greenfield 1974. 



Anatomy and Physiology.— C\o\h\er 1950; Halstead 1951; Halstead 

 et al. 1955; Saunders 1959; Halstead and Mitchell 1963; Taylor 

 1963; Munz 1964; Russell 1965, 1969; Carlson etal. 1971;Schaef- 

 fer et al. 1971; Baines 1975; Sullivan and Somero 1980. 



Pollutant Levels and Effects.— MacGregor 1972; Young and Mearns 

 1978; Stout and Beezhold 1981; Brown et al. 1982, 1984a-c; 

 Gossett et al. 1982a, b, 1984; Jenkins et al. 1982; Mearns 1982; 

 Schafer et al. 1982; Szalay 1982; Gadbois and Maney 1983; Bay 

 etal. 1984a, b; Perkins and Rosenthal 1984; Rosenthal etal. 1984; 

 Cross et al. 1985. 



Life History, Distribution, and Behavior. — Jordan and Gilbert 1881 

 Holder 1900; Richardson 1905; Wilson 1908, 1935; Barnhart 1932 

 David 1939; Limbaugh 1955; Orton 1955; Montgonnery 1957 

 Causey 1960; Kunnenkeri and Martin 1963; Rosenblatt 1963 

 Taylor 1963; Aral and Koski 1964; Carlisle et al. 1964; Clarke et 

 al. 1967; Quast 1968a-c; Carlisle 1969; Cressey 1969; Taylor and 

 Chen 1969; Turner etal. 1969; Frey 1971; Hobson 1971; Ho 1972; 

 Miller and Lea 1972; Varoujean 1972; Feder et al. 1974; Allen et 

 al. 1976; Burreson 1977; Mearns 1979; Daileyetal. 1981; Helvey 

 and Dorn 1981; Hobson et al. 1981; Stephens and Zerba 1981; 

 Eschmeyer etal. 1983; Love and Moser 1983; Barnettetal. 1984; 

 DeMartini and Allen 1984; Larson and DeMartini 1984; Thresher 

 1984; Love and Westphal 1985. 



F/s/7ery.— Phillips 1937; Daugherty 1949; Roedel 1953; Frey 1971. 



aspects of the growth, reproduction, food habits, 

 movements, and fisheries of the California scorpion- 

 fish. 



METHODS 



Distribution and Movements of 

 Adults and Juveniles 



To estimate relative abundance of California 

 scorpionfish over reefs and hard substrata, we used 

 the California Department of Fish and Game creel 

 census data, gathered from throughout the Southern 

 California Bight from April 1975 to December 1978. 

 In this study. Fish and Game personnel rode aboard 

 randomly chosen commercial passenger vessels 

 (hereafter referred to as "partyboats") and mea- 

 sured and identified all fish captured. The sampler 

 also noted numbers of anglers, fishing hours, and 

 location and depth of each fished site. Catch per 

 unit effort was used as our estimate of relative 

 abundance, where effort was measured in angler 

 hours (number of anglers x number of hours 

 fished). 



For several reasons, data from this study could 

 not give a completely unbiased estimate of Califor- 

 nia scorpionfish abundance. First, virtually all fish- 

 ing effort aboard partyboats occurs over reefs and 

 hard substrata. Hence, this data base does not ef- 



fectively measure abundance over soft substrata. 

 Second, most angling involved fishing with live bait 

 (primarily northern anchovies, Engraulis mordax) 

 or with lures simulating fishes. Thus the sample was 

 biased away from very small individuals. However, 

 California scorpionfish develop relatively large 

 mouths and become mesocarnivores at relatively 

 early sizes and our data indicates that most size 

 classes were represented. As angling techniques 

 were similar throughout the Southern California 

 Bight, we believe this survey allows for an accept- 

 able representation of abundance of all but the 

 smallest size classes. 



To measure relative abundance of California 

 scorpionfish living on soft substrates, we used trawl 

 data collected by the Southern California Coastal 

 Water Research Project (SCCWRP) and the Orange 

 County Sanitation District. These data were based 

 on 10-min tows of a 7.6 m headrope otter trawl 

 fished on the bottom at about 23, 61, and 137 m off 

 Palos Verdes and Huntington Beach (trawling sta- 

 tions are illustrated in Cross [1985] and Orange 

 County Sanitation District^). We analyzed data 

 taken about Palos Verdes and Huntington Beach 

 from January 1974 to December 1984 (except that 

 no data was taken for Huntington Beach during 

 1975). Fishes in this survey were measured using 

 standard length. We converted these measurements 

 to total lengths using conversion factors based on 

 measurements of 1,083 California scorpionfish. 

 These factors are TL = (1.21)SL + 1.02; SL = 

 (0.82)TL - 0.69. 



We also conducted a tagging program to give 

 some insight into this species' movements. We 

 tagged trawl-caught California scorpionfish with 

 Floy'^ tags (orange FD-68BC) from an area between 

 the southern part of Santa Monica Bay and Hunting- 

 ton Beach. The tags (consisting of a plastic tube 50 

 mm long with a 10 mm cross bar) were injected into 

 the dorsal musculature between the second and third 

 dorsal spines, leaving the brightly colored end free. 

 Most of the tagging effort was centered on Dago 

 Bank, about 11 km southeast of Long Beach 

 Harbor— an area we had identified as a spawning 

 ground. A monthly otter trawl survey indicated that 

 California scorpionfish were rare in this area be- 

 tween October and April, with large numbers of ripe 

 individuals occupying the habitat during late spring 

 and summer. 



^Orange County Sanitation District. 1984. Annual Report, 300 



P- 



'Reference to trade names does not imply endorsement by the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 



100 



