Canary rockfish (Sebastes pinniger) is a saltwater species recorded in the United States. It is mainly found over rocky, mud, at depths of 80–200 m.
Scientific name: Sebastes pinniger · Water: Saltwater
Size: up to 76 cm
The canary rockfish (Sebastes pinniger) is a rockfish of the subfamily Sebastinae described by Theodore Gill in 1864 from California material, named for its blotchy orange-yellow colour over a whitish or grey background and for the noticeably long pectoral and ventral fins that give it the epithet pinniger, "bearing a large fin". Young fish live in relatively shallow water and move deeper with age, with adults mostly found at 80–200 m where they gather around pinnacles and other high-relief rock with strong current; they can travel long distances, one tagged fish covering 700 km in four years. The species has been commercially important since the early 1880s off San Francisco and Washington and is caught in trawls and hook-and-line operations alongside lingcod, yellowtail and other rockfishes; the US West Coast stock was declared overfished in 2000 and rebuilt by 2015. US anglers know it as the canary or orange rockfish and take it from boats fishing deep structure with heavy jigs and bait, under the management rules that apply to the West Coast rockfish complex.
Caution: has venomous spines. Take great care when unhooking and handling; the sting is extremely painful.
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