An aurora rockfish uses marine mammal vertebrae as a shelter in Monterey Bay.

Taken from the Delta submersible during the 2008 IMPACT cruise to determine baseline fish abundances inside and outside new marine protected areas off central California.

Date: October 2008
Contact: SWFSC Fisheries Ecology Division, Habitat Ecology Team

Species data:
Aurora rockfish (Sebastes aurora) are white with pale pink to red saddles and blotches on their backs when underwater, changing to a more solid pink or red after capture. While little is known of their life history, individuals have been found that were age 75 years or older. It appears that both sexes mature around 5 years old.

Auroras are a deepwater slope species (81-768 m) found over both hard and soft seafloor bottoms between British Columbia and central Baja California. They are moderately important in commercial fisheries from Washington to central California.

Maximum size: 41 cm (16 inches).

From: The Rockfishes of the Northeast Pacific, by M.S. Love, M. Yoklavich, and L. Thorsteinson. University of California Press, 2002.