1 6 Bocaccio Sebastes paucispinis

Distinguishing characteristics. The bocaccio is one of 55 members of the rockfish family, 52 of which belong to the same genus or closely related groups. Because of their color and spineless head (for a rockfish), they are easily confused with the shortbelly rockfish, silvergray rockfish and chilipepper. Bocaccio can be distinguished from shortbelly rockfish, which never attain a very large size, by the proximity of the anal opening to the beginning of the anal fin. In the shortbelly rockfish the anal opening is in front of the anal fin by a distance almost equal to the width of the fish's eye. The body color and number of soft rays in the anal fin help in telling bocaccio from chilipepper and silvergray rockfish. Bocaccio have 9 or 10 soft anal fin rays and are light olive-brown above and pinkish-orange on the sides and belly. Some bocaccio may have one to several black blotches on their heads and sides. The name of the silvergray rockfish is for its color, while the chilipepper is an overall pinkish red. These latter two rock-fish have typically seven and eight soft anal rays respectively.

Distribution. Bocaccio have been captured from Queen Char­lotte Sound, British Columbia, to Sacramento Reef, Baja Cali­fornia. Larval bocaccio are pelagic and live in the upper lay­ers of the ocean. They are sometimes captured in plankton nets as far as 300 miles offshore. Young fish of a year or two in age often travel in loose schools and move into shallow water where they are captured in quantity by pier fishermen. With increasing age they move into deeper water and from near the surface to near the bottom. Adults are commonly found in water of 250 to 750 feet over somewhat irregular, rubble bottom. Sometimes they are found at depths as great as 1,000 feet.

Life history notes. Bocaccio are known to attain a length of 34- inches and a weight of 21 pounds. Authenticated weights and lengths of specimens over 3O inches are needed, however. Bocaccio have been reliably aged at 18 years and are thought to live as long as 30.

Females start naturing when they are about 15 inches in total length. As with all other species of rockfish, fertilization is internal and development of the embryos takes place within the ovaries of the female until they are ready to hatch. A 28-inch long female was estimated to contain nearly 1.5 million eggs per season. The main hatching period runs from December through April. The newly hatched larva, about one-quarter inch long, apparently does not completely absorb the yolk from its egg stage for a period of 7 to 12 days.

The developing larvae are plankton feeders, but in only a few months they start feeding upon fish. Examination of a number of bocaccio stomachs revealed an assortment of items, but mainly fish. Among the fish eaten were live-bearing perch, jack mackerel, sablefish, anchovies, sardines, Pacific mackerel, deep-sea lanternfish, other rockfish and sanddabs. Squid, octopi, and crabs also were eaten. The remains of small bocaccio have been found in the stomachs of albacore, salmon, and other rockfish.

Fossil earbones of several kinds of rockfish, some of which appear to be those of bocaccio, have been found in Pliocene deposits near San Diego. These deposits are estimated to be between 12 and 20 million years old.