Rockfish Species

[jrodda]

I was flipping through Dr. Milton Love's (my favorite fish author by light years) book specifically on rockfish to double check a couple species from today.

https://www.amazon.com/Rockfishes-Northeast-Pacific-Milton-Love/dp/0520234383/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?crid=35JCAKN2GD7B1&keywords=dr.+milton+love+rockfish&qid=1680396418&sprefix=dr.+milton+love+rockfi%2Caps%2C154&sr=8-1-fkmr2

Made me realize while looking through that I have misidentified a few in the past and I might be able to add half a dozen to my species list! Was just made aware of the rosethorn, which looks like a starry or rosy. And there are like 4 species that all look like a honeycomb rockfish, so I need to look back at some photos and take a pic of every rockfish from here on out. Just when I thought I knew. Rockfish are ridiculous.

[Latimeria]

That looks like a killer book.  I'm sure there are a few that I haven't seen or realize that I might have caught in that book.  I might have to take some more close up shots this season of all the rockfish to try and get some new ID's.

Thanks for sharing that Jeremy!

[Tim524]

I saw where some Red Vermilions were confused with others that had a 5 limit take (Sunset Rockfish) but because of the confusion they were all lumped together with only a 4 limit take. That's the way I understood it but these Regs. are hard to keep up with. Now the depths have been opened up but most of the fish down there are fish you cant keep anyways

[jrodda]

I saw where some Red Vermilions were confused with others that had a 5 limit take (Sunset Rockfish) but because of the confusion they were all lumped together with only a 4 limit take. That's the way I understood it but these Regs. are hard to keep up with. Now the depths have been opened up but most of the fish down there are fish you cant keep anyways

So the sunsets vs vermilion thing is super interesting to me, because without genetic testing the only way to guess which is which is if you caught it in less than 100m (330') which is a vermilion or greater than 330' which is a sunset. The law does not acknowledge sunsets in any way. If they were to even say "the vermilion complex of rockfishes" then they could enforce it, but they don't, so you can legally catch 10 sunset rockfish, or 4 vermilion and 6 sunsets. The only hangup is I'd imagine in order to prove it in court, you would need access to genetic testing to prove they're sunsets, which would cost money if you're not already sitting on those supplies...

1 copper, 4 reds. No bronzespots, yelloweyes, or cowcod.

Seems like down deep people have already found some blackgills which are fair game for your 10 fish limit, as well as a couple thornyheads, and some sunsets.

I got another new job coming my way in the form of solar sales/canvassing. The training might start Thursday and Friday, but I wanna tell them I have some pre-existing obligations to fulfill and push it off to next week, so I can take advantage of the weather those days to go rockfishing in the new deeper spots.

[BenCantrell]

Upper left is a vermilion from less than 200'. Brick red color. One up from lower left is a sunset from 360'. Orangeish color.



These are all sunsets from 450'.



Around Mission Bay and La Jolla I feel like I caught sunsets deeper than 250', and vermilions were 200' or less. Sometimes it was hard to tell which they were while still alive, but once they died they settled on the brick red vs orange. Disclaimer: I am not a biologist.

[Latimeria]

Unfortunately, wardens aren't usually ichthyologists either and can't make the quick call on what depth you caught them.  For myself, I would have supporting evidence with me to show the difference, or just limit them to 4 anyway to avoid possible headaches.  The good part about it, is the choice is yours to make.  lol

[jrodda]

...but once they died they settled on the brick red vs orange.

So all's I gotta do is catch 10 and kill them then see if I can keep all 10? I'm in.

I'm probably gonna stick with 4 "reds" to avoid the hassle, but the more I look at them, the more I think you're right about the clear color differentiation. It would be tempting to just keep 10 sunsets if I were in 400'+.

[skrilla]

Interesting. I knew they had to be different. Many times had both in the bag but always caught them from different rocks.

[Latimeria]

Interesting. I knew they had to be different. Many times had both in the bag but always caught them from different rocks.

The same thing here.  I knew I was catching different rockfish, but never took any time to try and research what they were.  I'm going to take some better live pics this year of just the fish so I can get some more positive ID's then just going with the norm.