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Copper Rockfish

Habitat and Enhancement Branch - Pacific Region

 

TAXONOMY

Phylum: Chordata
Class: Osteichthyes
Order: Scorpaeniformes
Family: Scorpaenidae

 

ECOLOGICAL DATA

Distribution: common inshore along rocky shores and over shallow reefs throughout B.C. coast.

Habitat: rocky inshore reefs in shallow protected bays and inlets; adults tend to be solitary and demersal; mate in autumn and fertilization is internal; larvae (5-6 mm) are released in March and April, drift with currents; juveniles (2-5 cm) rear during summer and fall in small groups to large schools, often in eelgrass (Zostera) and kelp (Agarum and Laminaria); juveniles become more solitary and demersal with age.

Tidal elevation: generally found above 25 m depth inshore.

Food: juveniles eat polychaetes and gammarid amphipods; adults take fish (surfperch, herring, sand lance, anchovy, shiner seaperch) shrimp, euphausids, lingcod eggs, and crabs.

Predators: fishes, such as lingcod and larger rockfish.

GROWTH RATE

Slow; maximum recorded size is 57 cm.

FISHERY

Minor component of commercial fishery; 1986 total rockfish commercial catch was 18,781 t valued at $11.8 million; combined sportfish limit for rockfish and sculpins is 8.

REFERENCES

Haldorson, L. and L.J. Richards. 1987. Post-larval copper rockfish in the Strait of Georgia: habitat use, feeding and growth in the first year. Proc. Int. Rockfish Symp., Oct. 1986, Anchorage. Alas. Sea Grant Rep. 87-2: 129-141.

Hart, J.L. 1973. Pacific fishes of Canada. Fish. Res. Board Can. Bull 180: 407-408.

Hueckel, G.J., and R.M. Buckley. 1987. The influence of prey communities on fish assemblages on artificial reefs in Puget Sound, Washington. Environ. Biol. Fish. 19: 195-214.

Lamb, A., and P. Edgell. 1986. Coastal fishes of the Pacific Northwest. Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, B.C.: 103.

Nagetagaal, D. 1985. Rockfish. Underwater World. Fish. Oceans Can., Ottawa: 5 p.

Richards, L.J. 1987. Copper rockfish (Sebastes caurinus) and quillback rockfish (Sebastes maliger) habitat in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia. Can. J. Zool. 65: 3188-3191.

 

For more information on copper rockfish habitat utilization and life cycle - click here

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