THE ROCKFISHES 



Family LXVL Scorpcsnidce 



BODY oblong, more or less compressed, the head large, and 

 with one or more pairs of ridges above, which usually termi- 

 nate in spines; opercle usually with 2 spinous processes, preopercle 

 with 4 or 5; mouth terminal, usually large, with villiform teeth 

 on jaws and vomer; premaxillaries protractile; maxillary broad, 

 without supplemental bone; gill-openings wide, extending forward 

 below; gill-membranes separate, free from the isthmus; scales 

 ctenoid or sometimes cycloid; lateral line continuous, concurrent 

 with the back; a narrow bony stay extending backward from 

 the suborbital toward the preopercle; dorsal fin continuous, some- 

 times very deeply notched; pseudobranchise large; air-bladder 

 usually present. 



This is a very large family, with about 30 genera and 250 

 species, inhabiting all seas, especially abundant in the temperate 

 parts of the Pacific, where they form a large proportion of the 

 fish-fauna. The species are of large or moderate size, and all 

 are non-migratory, living about rocks or among the algae. Many 

 of the species are of food-value, though some are reputed poison- 

 ous. Many of them are viviparous, the young being produced 

 when about \ inch long. 



The family is most numerously represented on our California 

 coast. In our waters are 8 genera with about 85 species, only a 

 small proportion, however, are of much, if any, food-value. None 

 Of them is regarded as a game-fish. We treat the family only 

 briefly. 



a. Dorsal spines more than 12. 



b. Dorsal spines 15 or 16; vertebrae about 12+19; Sebastes, 495 



bb. Dorsal spines 13 or 14; Sebastodes, 496 



The only important species of the family on our Atlantic 

 Coast is Sebastes marinus, known as the rose-fish, redfish, snap- 

 per, red perch, Norway haddock, hemdurgan, bream or John Dory. 



It is a fish of wide distribution and is found in northern 

 Europe and from Iceland to middle New Jersey. It is most 



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