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Fishery Bulletin 106(2) 
eluded that both S. melanostictus and S. kawaradae are 
synonymous with S. aleutianus. These decisions were 
subsequently followed by Sheiko and Fedorov (2000), 
Love et al. (2002), Mecklenburg et al. (2002), and Nak- 
abo (2002). 
The confused history of the nomenclature of Se- 
bastes aleutianus has been a result of the perceived 
wide variation in body coloration and close similarity 
in morphological features of several other species of 
Sebastes, including S. borealis (Barsukov, 1970), short- 
raker rockfish, and S. melanostomus (Eigenmann and 
Eigenmann, 1890), blackgill rockfish, in the eastern 
Pacific. Gilbert (1896) misidentified S. aleutianus , and 
probably S. borealis, material from the Bering Sea as 
that of S. introniger (Gilbert, 1890), which was origi- 
nally described from southern California and is now 
considered a synonym of S. melanostomus (Phillips, 
1957; Tsuyuki and Westrheim, 1970). In the same pub- 
lication as their original description of S. aleutianus, 
Jordan and Evermann (1898) provided a species account 
of S. introniger that was primarily based on Gilbert’s 
earlier (1896) redescription (Tsuyuki and Westrheim, 
1970), again listing its range as including the Bering 
Sea. Until clarified by Barsukov (1970) and Tsuyuki 
and Westrheim (1970) with their original descriptions 
of the new species S. borealis Barsukov and its synonym 
S. caenaematicus Tsuyuki and Westrheim, these reports 
led to persistent records in the literature of S. melano- 
stomus having been taken in the Bering Sea (Jordan 
and Evermann, 1898; Evermann and Goldsborough, 
1907; Jordan et al., 1930; Barsukov, 1964; Allen and 
Smith, 1988), although it is a species that may range 
north only to extreme southeastern Alaska (Butler and 
Love, 2002; Mecklenburg et al., 2002; Love et al., 2002, 
2005; Kramer and O’Connell, 2003). 
The early work of Tsuyuki and coauthors (Tsuyuki et 
al., 1965, 1968; Tsuyuki and Westrheim, 1970) and Seeb 
(1986) on hemoglobin and allozymes of eastern Pacific 
S. aleutianus provided evidence for species-level differ- 
ences among morphological and color forms — differences 
that were correlated with genetic variants. Using larger 
sample sizes and broader geographic ranges, Hawkins 
et al. (2005) with allozyme data and Gharrett et al. 
(2005) with DNA markers provided conclusive evidence 
of species-level differences among individuals in Alas- 
kan waters, and the reality of the presence of two spe- 
cies within S. aleutianus was confirmed. 
In this revision of the complex presently identified as 
Sebastes aleutianus, we recognize two species: Sebastes 
aleutianus, the rougheye rockfish, restricted to the east- 
ern Pacific; and Sebastes melanostictus, the blackspotted 
rockfish, ranging across the North Pacific from Japan to 
California. Sebastes kawaradae is considered a synonym 
of S. melanostictus, and S. swifti is a synonym of S. 
aleutianus. We expand upon the efforts of Gharrett et 
al. (2006), who distinguished dark and light forms in 
the Gulf of Alaska, extending our morphological exami- 
nation across almost the entire range of both species, 
clarifying the nomenclature, and providing diagnoses 
and redescriptions of both species. 
Methods and materials 
Counts, measurements, and statistical analyses fol- 
lowed Orr and Blackburn (2004), except as noted below. 
The structure of the swimbladder was examined after 
dissection following the method of Hallacher (1974). 
Unless indicated otherwise, standard length (SL) is 
used throughout, always measured from the tip of the 
snout. Measurements and counts are presented in spe- 
cies descriptions as the range for all material examined 
followed by the value for the holotype or lectotype in 
parentheses, when intraspecific variation is indicated. 
Collection depths are noted for each cataloged lot 
in the Material examined section (see Appendix) when 
known. In the analysis of depth distributions, only 
those lots with a single depth reported were used; 
when a range of depths was reported for a lot, it was 
not included. All depths reported are bottom depths 
unless otherwise stated. Institutional abbreviations 
follow Eschmeyer (1998). Survey records for “rougheye 
rockfish” ( Sebastes aleutianus or S. melanostictus) were 
taken from the Resource Assessment and Conserva- 
tion Engineering Division, Alaska Fisheries Science 
Center (AFSC), database, which included catch data 
from groundfish surveys conducted from the Bering 
Sea and Aleutian Islands to southern California from 
1961 to 2005. 
During initial genetic analyses, 124 individuals were 
identified as S. aleutianus or S. melanostictus (=S. sp. 
cf. aleutianus of Hawkins et al., 2005) by using allozyme 
data following Hawkins et al. (2005) and are marked 
with an asterisk in the Material examined section (see 
Appendix). These specimens were collected primarily in 
the northern Gulf of Alaska and off Washington; two 
specimens, however, were collected from the eastern 
Aleutian Islands and northern California. Based on 
examination of these genetically identified individuals, 
significant differences were found in body color, specifi- 
cally spotting on the spinous dorsal fin or an overall 
darker color (or both) in S. melanostictus (see Species 
descriptions below), that were then used to identify 
preserved specimens for which tissue was not avail- 
able for genetic analysis. Allozyme characteristics and 
body color were used to group individuals for univari- 
ate tests, as well as for labeling individuals in graphs 
of principal components analysis scores. Nomenclature 
of allozyme protein variants and microsatellite alleles 
follows conventions of the American Fisheries Society 
(Shaklee et al., 1990). Statistical analyses were per- 
formed with Statgraphics Plus 4.1 (Manugistics, Rock- 
ville, MD), Splus 6.2 (Insightful Corp., Seattle, WA), 
and SPSS 11.5.1 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). Differences 
were considered significant at P < 0.05. 
Out of a total of 329 specimens examined morphologi- 
cally, many had broken spines or other missing charac- 
ters; thus, the data set was reduced to 137 specimens 
with complete data, including 40 of those genetically 
identified, for which both univariate and multivariate 
analyses could be conducted. A suite of 29 morphometric 
and 5 meristic characters was analyzed (Table 1). All 
