Species: Sebastes exsul, Buccaneer rockfish
back - green lines + 6 pale spots
lower edge eye - no spines
inside mouth & gill chamber pale
Sebastes exsul Chen, 1971
Buccaneer rockfish
Body compressed, oval; head relatively large, compressed, bluntly pointed; eye moderately large; between eyes narrow, with 3 grooves; head spines not well developed; top of head with 7-8 pairs of spines, including over center of eye; bone at lower edge of eye without spines; lower edge of bone below eye & above front side of mouth with 2 down-pointing spines; no spiny longitudinal ridge under eye; numerous small conical teeth on jaws; teeth present on roof of mouth; gill rakers 31-37; a single dorsal fin, usually strongly notched at the rear of the spiny part, XIII (rarely XIV) strong, venomous spines, 4th-5th spines longest,12 (12-13) soft rays; anal fin III, spines long, strong, 2nd spine longest, 6 (5-6), rear profile of fin almost vertical; pelvics I, 5, under pectorals; pectorals large, 17 (16-18); tail fin slightly concave; lateral line with 34-43 pored scales, last one on base of tail fin; scales small, primarily rough.
Adults pink, to yellow to light orange; green wiggly lines on body above lateral line and on base of dorsal fin; fins pink and yellow; 6 whitish, pink-ringed blotches along upper side; inside mouth and gill chamber pale.
Reaches 31 cm; 24 years.
Lives on rocky bottoms.
Depth range: 110-200 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
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- Marine
- Marine Only
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore Only
- Inshore
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom
- Bottom only
- Habitat
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- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- Rocks
- Reef only
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- FishBase Habitat
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- Reef Associated
- Feeding Group
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- No Data
- Carnivore
- Diet
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- Bony fishes
- No Data
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Octopus/squid/cuttlefish
- Egg Type
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- Live birth
- Pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
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- East Pacific endemic
- Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- Continent
- TEP endemic
- Continental TEP endemic
- Cortez province endemic
- Continent only
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Northern Subtropical (Cortez Province + Sinaloan Gap)
- IUCN Red List
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- Not evaluated / Listed
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 31
- Depth Range Min
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- 110
- Depth Range Max
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- 200
