Juvenile rockfish swimming over Cordell Bank in the 

 northern Gulf of the Farallones. Species of fish living 

 near the top of the Continental Slope in the gulf pro- 

 duce pelagic (open-ocean) young that spend the first 

 few months to years of life swimming in the upper 

 water column and then settle out in relatively shallow 

 water and migrate downslope as they grow and 

 mature. (Photograph courtesy of Robert Schmieder, 

 Cordell Expeditions.) 



A red-banded rockfish on the Continental Slope in the 

 Gulf of the Farallones. Relatively few species of fish 

 occur at all or most depths on the slope. Those occu- 

 pying one depth commonly are replaced by similar 

 species at other depths. For example, greenstriped 

 and stripetail rockfishes live on muddy bottoms on the 

 upper part of the slope, whereas at greater depth they 

 are replaced by species of thornyheads. 



58 Biology and Ecological Niches in the Gulf of the Farallones 



