100 



Abstract.— We collected data on age- 

 length and length-weight relationships, 

 age and length at first maturity, and 

 spawning seasons of grass rockfish, 

 Sebastes rastrelliger. and brown rock- 

 fish. S. aunculatus. off southern Cali- 

 fornia. In addition, we also collected 

 data on fecundity of grass rockfish. For 

 both species, males and females grew 

 at the same rates and von Bertalanffy 

 age-length parameters for grass rock- 

 fish were /„ = 51.3 cm, k = 0.11, f„ = 

 -2.41 and for brown rockfish l^ = 51.4 

 cm, k = 0.16. tg = -0.55. Male and fe- 

 male grass rockfish matured at about 

 the same length and age, between 22 

 and 28 cm and between 2 and 5 yr. 

 There was also little difference between 

 the sexes for brown rockfish; they ma- 

 tured between 19 and 32 cm and be- 

 tween 3 and 6 yr. Grass rockfish 

 spawned from January to March, peak- 

 ing during January; brown rockfish 

 spawned from January to June (and 

 perhaps August I, also peaking in Janu- 

 ary. Fecundity of grass rockfish ranged 

 from about 80,000-760,000 eggs. 



Aspects of the life histories of grass rockfish, 

 Sebastes rastrelliger, and brown rockfish, 

 S. auriculatus, from southern California 



Milton S. Love 



Marine Science Institute 



University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106 



E-mail address Loveglifesci ucsb edu 



Korie Johnson 



Moss Landing Marine Laboratory 



P O Box 450, Moss Lancjing, California 93940 



Manuscript accepted 22 April 1998. 

 Fish. Bull. 87:100-109 (1998). 



Rockfishes (Scorpaenidae: Sebastes) 

 are of major commercial importance 

 in California waters. Until recently, 

 almost all of these fishes were 

 landed dead, destined either to be 

 sold whole or as fillets, as fresh or 

 frozen products (Lea, 1992). The 

 sale of live rockfish formed only a 

 very small part of the commercial 

 fishery, and most of this catch was 

 sold in Asian markets and restau- 

 rants, particularly in San Francisco 

 and Los Angeles. Recently, however, 

 landings in the live fish fishery have 

 increased sharply. Documented land- 

 ings (almost certainly an under- 

 estimate of the true catch) escalated 

 from about 52,000 pounds in 1989 

 to 987,000 pounds in 1995 (McKee- 

 Lewis^). Live finfish caught in Cali- 

 fornia waters are now widely sold 

 in many local and overseas venues. 

 Within the state, most of the fish 

 destined for the live fish market are 

 caught off southern and central 

 California. 



The live-fish fishery targets pri- 

 marily those inshore species easily 

 held alive, i.e. various rockfishes, 

 California sheephead iSemicos- 

 syphus pulcher), California halibut 

 (Paralichthys californicus) and 

 cabezon (Scorpaenichthys marmora- 

 tus). Among the important rock- 

 fishes are grass rockfish (S. rastrel- 

 liger) and brown rockfish (S. auricu- 

 latus). Over 100,000 pounds of grass 

 rockfish were landed in the live fish 



fishery in 1995 (McKee-Lewis^). 

 Despite their importance to this 

 fishery, relatively little was known 

 of their biology. 



Before our study, virtually noth- 

 ing had been published on the life 

 history of grass rockfish. They are 

 solitary crevice-dwellers, inhabiting 

 high relief substratum fi-om Yaquina 

 Bay, Oregon, to Bahia Playa Maria, 

 central Baja California (Miller and 

 Lea, 1972). Grass rockfish are among 

 the shallowest-dwelling rockfishes, 

 found fi-om the intertidal waters to 

 46 m, usually to depths of about 10 

 m (Feder et al., 1974; Eschmeyer et 

 al., 1983; Yoshiyama et al., i986). 

 Grass rockfish feed on fishes, crabs, 

 shrimps, and other crustaceans 

 (Quast, 1968; Grossman, 1986). 



Somewhat more was known re- 

 garding brown rockfish, which 

 range from Prince William Sound, 

 northern Gulf of Alaska, to Bahia 

 San Hipolito, central Baja Califor- 

 nia, and which inhabit subtidal 

 waters to depths of 135 m (Love et 

 al." ). Unlike grass rockfish, brown 



' McKee-Lewis, K. 1994. California De- 

 partment of Fish and Game. Marine Re- 

 sources Division,4949 Viewridge Ave., San 

 Diego, CA. Personal commun. 



-Love, M. S., L. Thorsteinson, C. W. 

 Mecklenburg and T. A. Mecklenburg. 

 1998. A checklist of marine and estuarine 

 fishes of the Northeast Pacific, from Alaska 

 to Baja California. Biological Resources Di- 

 vision, U. S. Geological Survey. 



