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Fishery Bulletin 106(2) 
140°E 150°E 160°E 170'E 180" 170"W 160"W 150”W 140°W 130’W 120"W 
Distribution of Sebastes aleutianus (rougheye rockfish, open circle) and Sebastes mela- 
nostictus (blackspotted rockfish, closed circle) based on material examined. Closed circles 
superimposed on open circles represent collections of both species at the same locality. 
Each symbol may represent more than one specimen. 
mandible completely scaled; suborbital region scaled; 
branchiostegal rays scaled. 
Gill rakers relatively short, 3. 4-6. 3 (4.5) % SL (Fig. 
5C), and slender on first arch; longest raker in joint 
between epi- and ceratobranchials; length of preceding 
rakers on upper arch and succeeding rakers on lower 
arch progressively shorter; rudiments absent. Extrinsic 
swimbladder muscle is Type I a-z of Hallacher (1974). 
Body color in life pink, red, or reddish orange and 
darker brownish-red mottling is present in faint bands 
at and above the lateral line, often extending onto dor- 
sal-fin base. Head light, with irregular shaped dark 
blotch at posterodorsal corner, other blotches often pres- 
ent on operculum between orbit and lower posterior 
margin. Orobuccal membranes pink to red, often with 
dark blotches; jaw membranes light, occasionally dusky. 
Spinous and soft dorsal fins uniformly pink to red, usu- 
ally dark along fin margins, occasionally with small 
diffuse blotches near base of fin. Anal and caudal fins 
uniformly pink to red, dark along fin margin. Paired 
fins red, rays often with dark tips. Peritoneum gray to 
dusky, rarely white or black; stomach, pyloric caeca, and 
intestines pale. See Figures 1 and 2 and color figures in 
S. aleutianus species accounts of Love (2002; “juvenile” 
upper left), Kramer and O’Connell (1986, 1988, 1995, 
2003; “juvenile”). Juveniles in life similar to adults in 
general body color, often with more distinct dark red to 
brown mottling. After preservation, reddish background 
color fading to light gray, yellowing with age. Dark 
areas remaining dark brown to black. 
No sexual dimorphism is evident in morphometric 
or meristic characters. Largest specimen examined 
555 mm (726 mm total length [TL], 710 mm fork length 
[FL]; FAKU 119293). 
Distribution 
The range of Sebastes aleutianus, based on material 
examined, extends from the eastern Aleutian Islands off 
Unalaska Island and the eastern Bering Sea at Pribilof 
Canyon at 55.7°N, south to southern Oregon at 43.9°N 
(Fig. 7). This distribution is nearly identical to that 
reported in the analyses of Hawkins et al. (2005, as S. 
aleutianus) and Gharrett et al. (2005, 2006, as “Type 
II”). Our material was collected at depths of 45 m to at 
least 439 m — a range that overlapped the depth distri- 
bution of S. melanostictus but which was typically shal- 
lower than the depth range of <S. melanostictus (ANOVA, 
F=14.98, df=l, P=0.002; Fig. 8). No specimens of S. 
aleutianus are for certain from California, although at 
least one individual has been captured in northern Cali- 
fornia and was documented photographically. Catch data 
from AFSC surveys of the continental shelf and upper 
continental slope conducted from 1961 to 2001 indicate 
that neither S. aleutianus nor S. melanostictus (all iden- 
tified as Sebastes aleutianus ) was common in catches off 
California; only 61 specimens in 36 hauls were recorded 
for over 3600 tows of survey data (Fig. 9). 
Etymology 
The specific name aleutianus refers to the Aleutian 
Islands region. At the time of its original description 
(Jordan and Evermann, 1898), Kodiak Island was consid- 
