Species: Sebastes cortezi, Cortez rockfish

pink; gut lining v dark
gill chamber slightly dark

Sebastes cortezi (Beebe & Tee-Van, 1938)
Cortez rockfish
Body compressed, oval; head relatively large, compressed, blunt; eye large; head spines moderate sized, strong; top of head with 6 pairs of spines, & sometimes a pair on nape, absent over center of eye; lower edge of bone below eye & above front side of mouth with 2 down-pointing spines, not pointing to rear, front spine projects forwards; no spiny longitudinal ridge under eye; lower jaw with inconspicuous knob at front; numerous small conical teeth on jaws; teeth present on roof of mouth; gill rakers 26-31; a single dorsal fin, usually strongly notched at the rear of the spiny part, XIII (XII-XIII) strong, venomous spines, 4th-5th spines longest,12 (11-12) soft rays; anal fin III, spines long, strong, 2nd spine longest, 6 (5-6); pelvics I, 5, under pectorals; pectorals large, 18 (17-19); tail fin slightly concave; lateral line with 33-45 pored scales, last one on base of tail fin; scales small, primarily rough.
Adults pink, with dusky traces; inside mouth and gill chamber slightly dusky; lining of gut cavity very dark.
Reaches 31 cm.
Lives on soft bottoms.
Depth range: 200-1100 m.
The central Gulf of California.
Note: We have not included S. peduncularis and S. varispinnis, both of which are known only from a very few juveniles, and could be synonyms of S. cortezi and S. diploproa, respectively.

High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
-
- Marine
- Marine Only
- Inshore/Offshore
-
- Inshore
- Offshore
- In & Offshore
- Water Column Position
-
- Bottom
- Bottom only
- Habitat
-
- Soft bottom only
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Mud
- FishBase Habitat
-
- Bathydemersal
- Feeding Group
-
- No Data
- Carnivore
- Diet
-
- Zooplankton
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- No Data
- Octopus/squid/cuttlefish
- Egg Type
-
- Pelagic larva
- Live birth
- Global Endemism
-
- Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) endemic
- East Pacific endemic
- Regional Endemism
-
- Cortez province endemic
- Continent
- Continental TEP endemic
- TEP endemic
- Continent only
- Residency
-
- Resident
- Climate Zone
-
- Northern Subtropical (Cortez Province + Sinaloan Gap)
- IUCN Red List
-
- Least concern
- Listed
- CITES
-
- Not listed
- Length Max
-
- 31
- Depth Range Min
-
- 200
- Depth Range Max
-
- 1100