Dr. Bill & other fish experts - what's a baby giant black sea bass look like?

[fnfalman]

A few weeks back at Anacapa Landing Cove, I thought that I saw a baby giant black sea bass. It had the general shape of a giant black sea bass but it was light greyish without spots, and it was hauling butt so I didn't really had a good look at it. Figured around 4ft to 5ft in length

Yesterday, I was at Anacapa close to the arches at the east end (just east of Landing Cove) and I saw two big pelagics. One of them was a white sea bass for sure. I saw it swam by, though it didn't stay, I still got a good look and it matches the photo on the fish ID tables.

However there was another big grey fish that looks suspiciously like a giant black sea bass but only around 5ft to 6ft (it was about as long as I am tall, 5ft6). It was slow moving and it stayed with me for quite some times, keeping an arm's reach distance from me. It didn't swim away but it didn't allow me to get close enough to touch (not that I would touch it) either. When I get close to a certain length, it would back away to just about arm's reach. It looked like a giant black sea bass, but greyish in color and no spots. Does that sound like a juvenile giant black sea bass?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

 

[fnfalman]

Nope. That ain't it. This one didn't have any spot.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

That's what they look like when they are juveniles. They then resemble white seabass until about a foot long, then they are brick red with dark spots. An adult will be from 4-7 feet.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Dr. Bill has four weekly columns about GSBs.
Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Dive Dry Column

 

[robint]

juveniles have spots, adults don't. You saw adults most likely.

 

[jridg]

BSBs that are 4-6 ft long are not babies.

 

[drbill]

Yes, Phil's picture is of a baby... something I've never seen here on the island.

Any fish in the length range you indicated would look like an adult, although adults can be spotted, countershaded, dark or light in color... and change patterns as well.

 

[fnfalman]

I thought that an adult would be more like 6-8 ft? The two I saw last year at Catalina dwarfed my dive buddy who was 6ft4 and 300-lbs.

 

[drbill]

These fish are sexually mature (and therefore "adult") at 11-13 years and 50-60 pounds according to Milton Love. The largest known was 7.4 ft long, although I've seen ones that were longer than me "by a good foot" according to my buddies and I'm 6 ft.