Species: Sebastes macdonaldi, Mexican rockfish
head spines not strong
spine under eye
LL pale red
Sebastes macdonaldi (Eigenmann & Beeson, 1893)
Mexican rockfish
Body compressed, oval, moderately deep; head relatively large, compressed, pointed; eye moderate size; head spines moderately strong; top of head with 7-8 pairs of spines; bone below eye & above front side of mouth with 3-4 downpointing spines; no spiny longitudinal ridge under eye; a flat spine under front edge of eye; between eyes flat to convex; numerous small conical teeth on jaws; teeth present on roof of mouth; gill rakers 35-42; a single dorsal fin, usually strongly notched at the rear of the spiny part, XII-XV strong, venomous spines, 3rd-4th spines longest, 13 (12-15) soft rays; anal fin III, spines short, 2nd spine shorter than 3rd, 7-8; pelvics I, 5, under pectorals; pectorals large, 19-20 (18-20); tail fin slightly concave; lateral line with 50-58 pored scales, last one on base of tail fin; scales small, rough.
Olive brown to blackish red above, red on side; lateral line in clear red, bordered by darker color; anal and pelvic fins reddish, other fins darker.
Reaches 66 cm; 2.7 kg; 20+ years.
Lives on rocky bottoms.
Depth range 76-350 m.
Central California to southern Baja; 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 Only
- Marine
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore Only
- Inshore
- Water Column Position
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- Near Bottom
- Bottom only
- Habitat
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- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- Reef only
- Rocks
- FishBase Habitat
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- Reef Associated
- Feeding Group
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- Data
- Carnivore
- Diet
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- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Bony fishes
- Octopus/squid/cuttlefish
- Data
- Egg Type
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- Live birth
- Pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
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- East Pacific endemic
- TEP non-endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- Continent only
- Temperate Eastern Pacific, primarily
- Continent
- California province, primarily
- Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) non-endemic
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Northern Subtropical (Cortez Province + Sinaloan Gap)
- North Temperate (Californian Province &/or Northern Gulf of California)
- IUCN Red List
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- Not evaluated / Listed
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 66
- Depth Range Min
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- 76
- Depth Range Max
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- 350
