Table 9. Subhabitat and feeding categories of common kelp forest fishes. 



Subhabitat 



Browsers 



Planktivores 



Predators on 

 mobile prey 



Canopy-Midwater 

 Species 



Bottom 

 Species 



Senori ta 

 ( Oxyjulis californica ) 



Kelp surfperch 

 ( Brachyistius frenatus ) 



Ha If moon a 

 (Medialuna cal iforniensis ) 



Garibaldi 

 ( Hypsypops rubicundus ) 



Surfperch 



California sheephead 

 ( Semicossyphus pulcher ) 



Opal eye a 

 ( Gi rel la nigricans ) 



Blue rockfish 

 ( Sebastes mystinus ) 



Blacksmith 

 ( Chromis punctipinnis ) 



Juvenile rockfish 

 ( Sebastes spp. ) 



Juvenile kelp bass 

 (Paralabrax clathratus) 



Giant kelpfish 

 f Heterostichus rostratus ) 



Kelp bass 

 ( Paralabrax clathratus ) 



Olive rockfish 

 ( Sebastes serranoides ) 



Black rockfish 

 ( Sebastes melanops ) 



Surfperch 



California Sheephead 

 ( Semicossyphus pulcher ) 



Rockfish 

 ( Sebastes spp. ) 



Greenl ing 

 ( Hexogrammos spp.) 



Lingcod 

 ( Ophiodon elongatus ) 



Cabezon 

 ( Scorpaenichthys marmoratus ) 



Sculpin 



Goby 



Torpedo ray 

 ( Torpedo cal ifornica ) 



eAlso grazers. 



in the absence of senorita predation, kelp 

 fronds would be much more heavily fouled 

 by sessile animals, and perhaps destroyed 

 by herbivorous crustaceans. Senoritas 

 also clean other fishes, feeding on scales 

 and parasitic copepods. At night, this 

 fish buries itself in patches of rubble 

 and sand, a characteristic behavior of 

 many labrids. 



The diet of the kelp surfperch is 

 similar to that of the senorita. This 

 kelp-colored fish consumes copepods, 

 gammarid amphipods, bryozoans, and occa- 

 sionally ectoparasites on other fish (Bray 

 and Ebeling 1974, Coyer 1979). Kelp 

 surfperch feed during the day, usually 

 starting at dawn, and have full stomachs 

 by noon. This species is very rare in 

 areas without large seaweeds (Carr pers. 

 comm. ) . 



The halfmoon Medialuna cal iforniensis 

 (Family Scorpididae, Figure 22~) iTs a 

 browser, but consumes both invertebrates 

 and algae in southern California (Quast 

 1971d, Feder et al. 1974). The halfmoon 

 occurs singly or in loose schools, 

 browsing on seaweeds, and along with the 

 opaleye (see below), is the only abundant, 

 large fish that regularly feeds on 

 seaweeds in California giant kelp forests. 

 Other than an occasional bite mark, 

 halfmoon appear to cause little damage in 

 large stands of kelp. If stands are 

 reduced to a few plants, however, these 

 fish can completely remove blades, causing 

 the plants to die. This has inhibited 

 transplant efforts to restore giant kelp 

 (North 1968), and to establish Macrocystis 

 and Pterygophora cal ifornica on a large 

 artificial reef (Grant et al. 1982, LOSL 

 1983). 



71 



