FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 77. NO I 



which is now known to be S. paucisplnix (Moser 

 1967; Moser et al. 1977). Complete development 

 series from newly hatched larvae to benthic 

 juveniles have only been described for S. cortezi, S. 

 jordani,S. levis,S. inacdonaldi,S. melanostomus, 

 S. paucuipinis. and Sebastes sp. — Gulf of Califor- 

 nia Type A (Moser 1967. 1972; Moser et al. 1977; 

 Moser and Ahl.strom 1978). 



This paper is a contribution to the knowledge of 

 the early life history of northeast Pacific rock- 

 fishes. Developmental series of three species, S. 

 crameri, S. pinnigcr, and S. helvomaculalus. are 

 described for the first time. The first two species 

 are important contributors to Oregon trawl land- 

 ings (Niska 1976). Information on occurrence of 

 larvae and juveniles of these three species off Ore- 

 gon is also given. Because of the large species 

 complex oi Sebastes in the northeast Pacific and 

 the difficulty in identifying young rockfish, e.g., 

 adult keys cannot be used, the approach that was 

 used to identify the specimens in this study is 

 presented as part of the methodology. 



MATERIALS AND METHODS 



Collections 



Specimens described in this paper came from 

 collections in the School of Oceanography, Oregon 

 State University. The collections were obtained 

 with 70 cm bongo nets, neuston nets, meter nets, 

 Isaacs-Kidd midwater trawls, beam trawls, and 

 otter trawls off the Oregon coast since 1961 during 

 all months of the year. Samples were taken along 

 the entire coast, but were concentrated along an 

 east-west transect off Newport, Oreg. (lat. 

 44°39.1' N). All material had been preserved in 

 either 5 or 109^ Formalin'' and most had been 

 transferred to 30 or 40'7c isopropyl alcohol. Over 

 12,000 Sebastes larvae and juveniles were sorted 

 from the available collections. 



Approach to Identification 



Geographic ranges of all known northeast 

 Pacific species (excluding the new species being 

 described by Lea and Fitch (Chen 19751, presum- 

 ably from California] were recorded from the lit- 

 erature (Appendix Table 1). Additional range in- 

 formation gathered during this study extends the 



^References to trade names does not imply endorsement by the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service. NOAA. 



southern range of .S. emphaeus through Oregon to 

 Punta Gordo, Calif, (lat. 40°12.9' N, long. 

 124°23.7' W, depth 97 m). Adults of only 36 of 

 these species are reported to occur off Oregon. The 

 occurrence of two of these, S. eos and S. rosaceus, is 

 questionable north of northern California (Chen 

 19711. Although ocean currents could potentially 

 carry larvae and juveniles of additional species 

 into Oregon waters, it is unlikely that large num- 

 bers of young of other species would be taken in an 

 area where the adults do not occur. Following this 

 assumption, tables of morphological characters 

 were prepared for these 36 potential species. The 

 most useful characters for identifying young 

 rockfish were shape of the upper profile of the head 

 ( interorbital space) and presence or absence of 

 specific head spines, particularly the supraocular 

 ( Appendix Table 2 1; number, including range and 

 usual (most commonly occurring) number of dor- 

 sal fin rays, anal fin rays, and pectoral fin rays 

 (Appendix Table 3); total number of gill rakers on 

 the first gill arch (Appendix Table 4); number of 

 lateral line pores (Appendix Table 5); number of 

 diagonal scale rows below the lateral line (Appen- 

 dix Table 6). Proportions of body parts related to 

 standard length such as length of upper jaw, head 

 length, length of longest dorsal spine, and body 

 depth at pelvic fin insertion were compiled but 

 were not particularly useful. Additional informa- 

 tion which was sometimes helpful included rec- 

 ords from trawl surveys off Oregon (Demory et al. 

 1976) and commercial catch trends in Oregon 

 (Niska 1976) which gave indications of species 

 common in trawlable habitats in the area. Pig- 

 ment banding patterns of adults were also useful. 



Initially, counts were made on each juvenile to 

 be identified along with notes on additional, po- 

 tentially useful characters. Data for each speci- 

 men were then screened through each of the ap- 

 pendix tables, and the species which did not agree 

 were eliminated as potential candidates. This ap- 

 proach, together with some additional data from 

 the literature as noted in the text, lead to positive 

 identification for the species included in this 

 paper. 



Developmental series were established back- 

 wards from juveniles primarily on the basis of 

 pigmentation, particularly that of the pectoral 

 and pelvic fins and that on the dorsal and ventral 

 body margins, general body shape (e.g., short and 

 stubby, slender and elongate), and constancy in 

 number of dorsal, anal, and pectoral fin rays which 

 could be counted back to postflexion, sometimes 



