Sebastes


Sebastes is a genus of fish in the family Sebastidae, most of which have the common name of rockfish. A few are called ocean perch, sea perch or redfish, instead. Most of the Sebastes species live in the north Pacific, although two live in the South Pacific/Atlantic and four live in the North Atlantic. The coast off Southern California is the area of highest rockfish diversity, with 56 species living in the Southern California Bight.
The fossil record of rockfish goes back to the Miocene, with unequivocal whole body fossils and otoliths from California and Japan.
Rockfish are important sport and commercial fish, and many species have been overfished. As a result, seasons are tightly controlled in many areas. Sebastes species are sometimes fraudulently substituted for the more expensive northern red snapper.

Ecology

Rockfish range from the intertidal zone to almost deep, usually living benthically on various substrates, often around rock outcrops. Some rockfish species are very long-lived, amongst the longest-living fish on earth, with several species known to surpass 100 years of age, and a maximum reported age of 205 years for S. aleutianus.

Ecotoxicology, radioecology

Like all carnivores, these fish can bioaccumulate some pollutants or radionuclides such as cesium.
Highly radioactive rockfish have been caught in a port near Fukushima city, Japan, not far from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, nearly 2 years after the nuclear disaster ; 116000 Bq/kg and 132000Bq/kg, respectively 1070, 1160, and 1320 times more than the maximum allowed by Japanese authorities

Species

The 109 recognized extant species in this genus are:
at the Monterey Bay Aquarium
 at the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.



 at the Vancouver Aquarium

 at the New England Aquarium