fluid to be ejected through the genital papilla_ 

 with considerable force. Eight specimens 

 representing five species of Sebastodes , pre- 

 served in fornnalin and examined in the labo- 

 ratory, all appeared to have ripe testes; 

 except for the one specimen of S. vexillaris ; 

 however, the bladders contained only clear 

 fluid. In the S. vexillaris it appeared that 

 Sonne testicular material having the con- 

 sistency of putty had moved into the base of 

 the bladder, and the bladder itself contained 

 some whitish fluid. Although it is possible 

 that the bladder functions to store, dilute, or 

 ejaculate the sperm, it is probable that the 

 conditions noted in the single specinnens of S. 

 paucispinis and S. vexillaris were artifacts 

 caused by the pressure changes undergone by 

 the fish in being hauled to the surface. 



The relative gonad weight (weight of gonads 

 as a percentage of weight of fish) for eight 

 males was very low (table 7). The relative 

 gonad weights of the females (tables 1, 2, 

 and 3) were much higher and similar to other 

 marine fishes in this size range. Among 

 other species of fish the relative gonad weights 

 of males and females are more closely simi- 

 lar during the spawning season. 



The small size of the testes may be the 

 result of partial spawning, as the spawning 

 season was well advanced at the time of 

 capture. Most of the females of the five 

 species represented by the male contained 

 unfertilized ova, however, as did most fe- 

 males of the other species. Also, none of the 

 many males examined at sea had noticeably 

 enlarged gonads. The reduced size of the 

 testes may be related to the presumed greater 

 efficiency of internal fertilization. 



CONCLUSIONS 



Of nine species of Sebastodes examined 

 three--S. ovalis , S. constellatus and S. 

 paucispinis --showed evidence of two spawn- 

 ings per year. Two lines of evidence were 

 found: (1) small numbers of advanced larvae 

 entrapped in the ovaries along with full com- 

 plements of developing eggs or early em- 

 bryos; (2) a secondary group of developing 

 eggs in the ovaries with about equal numbers 

 of advanced embryos. No evidence of two 



Table 7. — Data on length, weight, and weight of testes of rockfish 



Species of 

 Sebastodes 



Standard 

 length 



Total 

 length 



Weight 



Weight 

 of testes 



Weight of 



testes as 



percentage 



of fish 



weight 



£igenmann (1894) in his study of the vivi- 

 parous embiotocid, Cymatogaster aggregatus , 

 found that the two sexes were completely out 

 of phase in the ripening of gonads. The males 

 ripen in the spring, and copulation takes 

 place at that time, following parturition. The 

 sperm is stored by the females until they 

 ripen the following fall. This situation prob- 

 ably does not exist among the ovoviviparous 

 species of Sebastodes . The eggs are fertilized 

 when ripe and are merely retained in the 

 ovaries until they hatch. 



spawnings was found in the ovaries of the 

 other six species. 



The relative fecundity (number of eggs or 

 embryos of a single spawning batch per 

 gram of fish) averaged 162 for the three 

 species that gave evidence of two spawn- 

 ings and 280 for the six species that gave 

 no evidence of two spawnings. In the 

 species that spawn twice the development 

 of the second spawning batch appears to 

 be inhibited until the first batch is ferti- 

 lized. 



11 



