Sebastes is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae part of the family Scorpaenidae, most of which have the common name of rockfish. A few are called ocean perch, sea perch or redfish instead. They are found in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Taxonomy Sebastes was first described as a genus in 1829 by the French zoologist Georges Cuvier, the Dutch ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker designated Perca norvegica, which may have been originally described by the Norwegian zoologist Peter Ascanius in 1772, as the type species in 1876. The genus is the type genus of both the tribe Sebastini and the subfamily Sebastinae, although some authorities treat these as the subfamily Sebastinae and the family Sebastidae, separating the Sebastidae as a distinct family from the Scorpaenidae. Other authorities place it in the Perciformes in the suborder Scorpaenoidei.
Some authorities subdivide this large genus into subgenera as follows:
Sebastes Cuvier, 1829 S. fasciatus S. mentella S. norvegicus S. viviparus Acutomentum Eigenmann & Beeson, 1893 S. alutus S. baramenuke S. brevispinis S. entomelas S. flammeus S. hopkinsi S. iracundus S. kiyomatsui S. macdonaldi S. minor S. ovalis S. rufus S. scythropus S. wakiyai Allosebastes Hubbs, 1951 S. cortezi S. diploproa S. emphaeus S. peduncularis S. proriger S. rufinanus S. saxicola S. semicinctus S. sinensis S. variegatus S. varispinis S. wilsoni S. zacentrus Auctospina Eigenmann & Beeson 1893 S. auriculatus S. dallii Emmelas Jordan & Evermann 1898 S. glaucus Eosebastes Jordan & Evermann, 1896 S. aurora S. crameri S. melanosema S. melanostomus Hatumeus Matsubara, 1943 S. owstoni Hispaniscus Jordan & Evermann, 1896 S. elongatus S. levis S. rubrivinctus Mebarus Matsubara 1943 S. atrovirens S. cheni S. inermis S. joyneri S. taczanowskii S. thompsoni S. ventricosus Murasoius Matsubara 1943 S. nudus S. pachycephalus Neohispaniscus Matsubara 1943 S. schlegelii S. vulpes S. zonatus Pteropodus Eigenmann & Beeson, 1893 S. carnatus S. caurinus S. chrysomelas S. hubbsi S. longispinis S. maliger S. nebulosus S. nivosus S. rastrelliger S. trivittatus Rosicola Jordan & Evermann, 1896 S. babcocki S. miniatus S. pinniger Sebastichthys Gill, 1862 S. nigrocinctus Sebastocarus Jordan & Evermann, 1927 S. serriceps Sebastodes Gill, 1861 S. goodei S. itinus S. jordani S. paucispinis S. steindachneri Sebastomus Gill, 1864 S. capensis S. chlorostictus S. constellatus S. ensifer S. eos S. exsul S. helvomaculatus S. lentiginosus S. notius S. oculatus S. rosaceus S. rosenblatti S. serranoides S. simulator S. spinorbis S. umbrosus Sebastopyr Jordan & Evermann, 1927 S. ruberrimus Sebastosomus Gill, 1864 S. ciliatus S. diaconus S. flavidus S. melanops S. mystinus S. variabilis Takenokius Matsubara, 1943 S. oblongus Zalopyr Jordan & Evermann, 1898 S. aleutianus S. borealis S. matsubarae S. melanostictus Incertae sedis S. gilli S. koreanus S. moseri S. phillipsi S. polyspinis S. reedi
The genus name is derived from the Greek Sebastos, an honorific used in ancient Greek for the Roman imperial title of Augustus, an allusion to the old name for S. norvegicus on Ibiza, its type locality, which Cuvier translated as "august" or "venerable".
The fossil record of rockfish goes back to the Miocene, with unequivocal whole body fossils and otoliths from California and Japan (although fossil otoliths from Belgium, "Sebastes" weileri, may push the record back as far as the early Oligocene).
Species Sebastes contains 109 recognized extant species in this genus are: Image Scientific name Common name Distribution Sebastes aleutianus (D. S. Jordan & Evermann, 1898) rougheye rockfish North Pacific (coast of Japan to the Navarin Canyon in the Bering Sea, to the Aleutian Islands, all the way south to San Diego, California) Sebastes alutus (C. H. Gilbert, 1890)Pacific Ocean perch North Pacific (southern California around the Pacific rim to northern Honshū, Japan, including the Bering Sea.) Sebastes atrovirens (D. S. Jordan & C. H. Gilbert, 1880) kelp rockfish Pacific Ocean(coast of California in the United States and Baja California in Mexico) Sebastes auriculatus (Girard, 1854)brown rockfish Pacific Ocean (Bahia San Hipolito in southern Baja California to Prince William Sound in the northern Gulf of Alaska.) Sebastes aurora (C. H. Gilbert, 1890)aurora rockfish North Pacific Sebastes babcocki (W. F. Thompson, 1915)redbanded rockfish Pacific Ocean ( Zhemchug Canyon in the Bering Sea and the Aleutians south to San Diego, California) Sebastes baramenuke (Wakiya, 1917) Pacific Ocean ( northern Japan to South Korea) Sebastes borealis (Barsukov, 1970)shortraker rockfish Pacific Ocean (southeastern Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, to Fort Bragg, California.) Sebastes brevispinis (T. H. Bean, 1884)silvergray rockfish Pacific Ocean (Bering Sea coast of Alaska to Baja California) Sebastes capensis (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)Cape redfishWestern coast of South Africa, Tristan da Cunha and southern South America, Sebastes carnatus (D. S. Jordan & C. H. Gilbert, 1880) gopher rockfish Pacific Ocean ( Cape Blanco in Oregon, down to Punta San Roque in southern Baja California) Sebastes caurinus (J. Richardson, 1844)copper rockfish Pacific Ocean (Gulf of Alaska, to the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula, north of Guerrero Negro.) Sebastes cheni (Barsukov, 1988) Japanese white seaperch or Japanese blue seaperch Northwest Pacific Sebastes chlorostictus (D. S. Jordan & C. H. Gilbert, 1880)greenspotted rockfish Eastern Pacific. Sebastes chrysomelas (D. S. Jordan & C. H. Gilbert, 1881)black-and-yellow rockfish Pacific Ocean (off California and Baja California.) Sebastes ciliatus (Tilesius, 1813)dusky rockfish Pacific Ocean ( Bering Sea near British Columbia, in the Gulf of Alaska, and in the depths of the Aleutian Islands.) Sebastes constellatus (D. S. Jordan & C. H. Gilbert, 1880)starry rockfish Pacific Ocean(California and Baja California. ) Sebastes cortezi (Beebe & Tee-Van, 1938)Cortez rockfish Pacific Ocean ( Gulf of California along the coast of Baja California, Mexico.) Sebastes crameri (D. S. Jordan, 1897) darkblotched rockfish Pacific Ocean (southeast of Zhemchug Canyon in the Bering Sea to Santa Catalina Island, California) Sebastes dallii (C. H. Eigenmann & Beeson, 1894)calico rockfish Eastern central Pacific. Sebastes diaconus (Frable, D. W. Wagman, Frierson, A. Aguilar & Sidlauskas, 2015)deacon rockfish Northern California to southern British Columbia. Sebastes diploproa (C. H. Gilbert, 1890) splitnose rockfish Northeast Pacific Sebastes elongatus (Ayres, 1859)greenstriped rockfish Northeast Pacific Sebastes emphaeus (Starks, 1911) Puget Sound rockfish Pacific Ocean (Kenai Peninsula, Alaska to northern California) Sebastes ensifer (L. C. Chen, 1971)swordspine rockfish Central Pacific Sebastes entomelas (D. S. Jordan & C. H. Gilbert, 1880) widow rockfish Western North America from Alaska to Baja California. Sebastes eos (C. H. Eigenmann & R. S. Eigenmann, 1890)pink rockfish Monterey Bay in California, USA to central Baja California, Mexico Sebastes exsul (L. C. Chen, 1971)buccaneer rockfish Central Pacific: western Gulf of California. Sebastes fasciatus (D. H. Storer (fr), 1854)Acadian redfishNorthwestern Atlantic Ocean and its range extends from Virginia, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Nova Scotia, western Greenland and Iceland Sebastes flammeus (D. S. Jordan & Starks, 1904) Northwest Pacific. Sebastes flavidus (Ayres, 1862)Yellowtail rockfish San Diego, California, to Kodiak Island, Alaska Sebastes gilli (R. S. Eigenmann, 1891)Bronzespotted rockfish Monterey Bay in California, USA to northern Baja California, Mexico. Sebastes glaucus (Hilgendorf, 1880)Gray rockfish Northwest Pacific Sebastes goodei (C. H. Eigenmann & R. S. Eigenmann, 1890)chilipepper rockfish Western North America from Baja California to Vancouver. Sebastes helvomaculatus (Ayres, 1859 )rosethorn rockfish Eastern Pacific. Sebastes hopkinsi (Cramer, 1895)squarespot rockfish Eastern Pacific. Sebastes hubbsi (Matsubara, 1937) Northwest Pacific Sebastes ijimae (D. S. Jordan & Metz, 1913) Japan and South Korea. Sebastes inermis (G. Cuvier, 1829)Japanese red seaperch Coasts of Japan and the Korean Peninsula. Sebastes iracundus (D. S. Jordan & Starks, 1904) Northwest Pacific. Sebastes itinus (D. S. Jordan & Starks, 1904) Japan.Sebastes jordani (C. H. Gilbert, 1896)shortbelly rockfish Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada to northern Baja California, Mexico Sebastes joyneri (Günther, 1878)Togot seaperch, or offshore seaperch Japan and Korea Sebastes kiyomatsui (Y. Kai & Nakabo, 2004) Japan. Sebastes koreanus (I. S. Kim & W. O. Lee, 1994) Korea. Sebastes lentiginosus (L. C. Chen, 1971)freckled rockfish Santa Catalina Island in southern California, USA to northern Baja California Sebastes levis (C. H. Eigenmann & R. S. Eigenmann, 1889) cowcod Southern California Sebastes longispinis (Matsubara, 1934) Japan and South Korea. Sebastes macdonaldi (C. H. Eigenmann & Beeson, 1893) Mexican rockfish California, USA to southern Baja California, Mexico and the Gulf of California Sebastes maliger (D. S. Jordan & C. H. Gilbert, 1880) quillback rockfish Pacific coast from the Gulf of Alaska to the northern Channel Islands of Southern California. Sebastes matsubarai (Hilgendorf, 1880) Northern Japan. Sebastes melanops (Girard, 1856 )black rockfish Oregon, California, Washington, British Columbia, Alaska Sebastes melanosema (R. N. Lea & Fitch, 1979)semaphore rockfish Southern California, USA to central Baja California, Mexico. Sebastes melanostictus (Matsubara, 1934)blackspotted rockfish North Pacific. Sebastes melanostomus (C. H. Eigenmann & R. S. Eigenmann, 1890)blackgill rockfish Washington, USA to central Baja California, Mexico. Sebastes mentella (Travin, 1951)deepwater redfish North Atlantic Sebastes miniatus (D. S. Jordan & C. H. Gilbert, 1880) vermilion rockfish North America from Baja California to Alaska. Sebastes minor (Barsukov, 1972) Hokkaido, Japan to Sakhalin, Primorskii Krai, and the southern Kuril Islands. Sebastes moseri (Eitner, 1999)whitespeckled rockfish Northeast Pacific. Sebastes mystinus (D. S. Jordan & C. H. Gilbert, 1881) blue rockfish northeastern Pacific Ocean, ranging from northern Baja California to central Oregon. Sebastes nebulosus (Ayres, 1854 )China rockfish Kachemak Bay in the northern Gulf of Alaska to Redondo Beach and San Nicolas Island in southern California. Sebastes nigrocinctus (Ayres, 1859)tiger rockfish Pacific Ocean off Kodiak Island, and from Prince William Sound, Alaska, south to Point Buchon, central California. Sebastes nivosus (Hilgendorf, 1880) Sebastes norvegicus (Ascanius, 1772)golden redfish North Atlantic. Sebastes notius (L. C. Che, 1971) Guadalupe Island, Mexico. Sebastes nudus (Matsubara, 1943) Japan and South Korea. Sebastes oblongus (Günther, 1877)Bamboo shoot seaperch, Tortoiseshell perch Japan and South Korea. Sebastes oculatus (Valenciennes, 1833)Patagonian redfish Southeast Pacific and Southwest Atlantic: Chile, Argentina, and the Falkland Islands. Sebastes ovalis (Ayres, 1862) speckled rockfish Eastern Pacific Sebastes owstoni (D. S. Jordan & W. F. Thompson, 1914) Japanese yellow seaperch Japan to Primorskii Krai, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the North Korea Sebastes pachycephalus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1843) Northwest Pacific Sebastes paucispinis (Ayres, 1854)Bocaccio rockfish Stepovak Bay, Alaska to central Baja California Sebastes peduncularis (L. C. Chen, 1975) Eastern Central Pacific. Sebastes phillipsi (Fitch, 1964) chameleon rockfish Monterey Bay to Newport Beach in southern California, USA. Sebastes pinniger