446 
Fishery Bulletin 108(4) 
78 
76 
♦ Mendocino 
b Monterey 
CO 
> 
03 
C 
o 
03 
TJ 
"a3 
> 
Q) 
CD 
2 
0 
> 
< 
74 
72 
70 
68 
66 
64 
62 - 
60 -I t 
1993 1994 
♦ 
♦ 
a- 
Year 
2001 
2002 2003 
Figure 5 
Average larval duration, calculated from otolith data, for blue rockfish 
(Sebastes mystinus) from two study areas off California. Dashed lines 
represent the 5-year average for each site. Vertical bars represent one 
standard error. 
75.0 
70.0 
65.0 
60.0 
55 0 
50.0 
45.0 
40.0 
35.0 
30.0 
♦ Mendocino 
■ Monterey 
1993 
1994 
2001 
Year 
2002 
2003 
Figure 6 
Average pelagic juvenile duration, calculated from otolith data, for blue 
rockfish ( Sebastes mystinus) from two study areas off California. Dashed 
lines represent the 5-year average for each site. Vertical bars represent 
one standard error. 
Results from the CCA were similar 
for data from both study areas (Fig. 8). 
For Mendocino, settlement dates later 
in the year (later than the average date 
for a particular year) were positively 
related to upwelling in February, May, 
and June, and inversely related to sea 
level anomalies in February, March, 
and May. For Monterey, later settlement 
dates were positively related to upwell- 
ing in all months, except April, and neg- 
atively related to sea level anomalies in 
all months, except April. There was an 
inverse relationship between birth date 
and settlement age for both sites, where- 
by an early birth date corresponded with 
an older settlement age. 
Discussion 
The timing of settlement of blue rockfish 
was related primarily to the timing of 
birth. Blue rockfish off Mendocino that 
settled on average three weeks later than 
fish off Monterey also were born, on aver- 
age, about three weeks later than fish 
off Monterey. The age at settlement did 
not differ significantly between sites, nor 
did the duration of the larval or pelagic 
juvenile stages. Pasten et al. (2003) also 
attributed differences in settling date to 
time of parturition because early settlers 
of Sebastes inermis to seagrass beds in 
Japan were born earlier than late-set- 
tling fish. These researchers concluded 
that there was an ideal size for settle- 
ment and for active migration. Sogard 
et al. (2008) studied the maternal effects 
of rockfishes on their progeny and postu- 
lated that factors influencing the time of 
parturition also influenced recruitment 
success. It must be noted that parturi- 
tion dates for blue rockfish in the present 
study were calculated from surviving 
juveniles. Those juveniles that did not 
survive may have been born at a differ- 
ent time and therefore would change the 
average parturition date (Woodbury and 
Ralston, 1991; Yoklavich et al., 1996). 
However, because no estimate of early 
larval or juvenile mortality exists for 
blue rockfish, I could not adjust for this 
effect. 
Time of spawning and parturition 
of many fish species vary by latitude. 
Parturition dates for numerous east- 
ern Pacific rockfish species occur later 
in northern study areas off Washington 
and Alaska than in areas off California 
