MASTERS OF THE WATER-BONY FISHES 



273 



PRiESTFiSH (black rockfish, ROCK COD, PECHE pretre) : Sehastodes mystinus 



Size: Up to Wi feet. 



Distribution: San Diego to Puget Sound. The most abundant rockfish around 

 San Francisco and in the Juan de Fuca Strait. 



Identification: Because this is one of the species that is least spiny, it looks 

 much like a bass, but the head of the priestfish is bonier than that of a bass and 

 there is a spiny preoperculum as well as a bony stay under the eye. This species 

 has a blackish ground color mottled with dark and light blotches and has a 

 white belly. 



Habits: This is a voracious bottom fish very characteristic of rocky shallow 

 waters. It eats small fishes and crustaceans. Large numbers of young, a quarter 

 of an inch long, are born alive in the summertime. 



Similar Species: The only Atlantic rockfish is the rosefish, Sebastes inarinus, 

 which is a rose-red in color and found in waters colder than 50° Fahrenheit, 

 north of Maine in shallow waters and north of New Jersey in deeper waters. 

 It reaches 2 feet in length. 



The bocaccio, Sebastodes faucisfinis, is dark brown above, orange to pink 

 below, and generally flushed with red. It ranges from San Diego to British 

 Columbia. 



The green rockfish (yellowtail rockfish), Sebastodes ftavidus, is a common 

 shore form from San Francisco to San Diego. The body is grayish, becoming 

 brown above and white below, with yellowish fins and tail. 



RED ROCKFISH (tambor) : Scbastodes ruberrimus 



Size: Largest of rockfish. Up to 2V2 feet. 



Distribution: San Diego to Puget Sound. 



Identification: The head tends to be blunt with the top and sides covered 

 with moderate spines. The color of this species is vermilion. 



Habits: Like those of the priestfish. 



Similar S'pecies: The brown rockfish, Sebastodes auriculata, is the only rockfish 

 that commonly enters bays. It is a blackish brown, mottled with light brown 



