Sebastidae

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Sebastidae
Black rockfish, Sebastes melanops
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii Order: Scorpaeniformes Family: Sebastidae
Genera
See text. Adelosebastes Helicolenus Hozukius Sebastes Sebasticus Sebastolobus Trachyscorpia

Sebastidae is a family of marine fish in the order Scorpaeniformes. Their common names include rockfishes, rockcods and thornyheads, but this is unhelpful since they are not closely related to the cods in the genus Gadus, nor the rock cod, Lotella rhacina.

Not all authorities recognise this family as distinct from the Scorpaenidae. FishBase does recognise it,^[1] but ITIS does not.^[2]

There are about 130 species in this family, the substantial majority of them belonging to genus Sebastes, including the rose fish, Sebastes marinus. They are found in the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean. Over 100 of the species are viviparous, and these occur mainly in the North Pacific. All species have a venom gland in their dorsal, anal and pelvic spines.

[edit] Genera

• Adelosebastes
• Helicolenus
• Hozukius
• Sebastes
• Sebasticus
• Sebastolobus
• Trachyscorpia

[edit] References

1. ^ "Sebastidae". FishBase. Ed. Rainer Froese and Daniel Pauly. March 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
2. ^ Sebastes (TSN 166705). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved on 12 June 2006.