Lobos fish question

[spoolin01]

Which one? The top or the bottom?

Sorry, wasn't paying close enough attention to the similarity... I don't know! Because they look like bass and not the common rockfish form, I've just assumed they were bass. I'll have to take a closer look from now on.

 

[sfobiologo]

I'm no expert (just a two year ReefChecker), but I differentiate kelp bass (aka Calico bass) from olive rockfish by seeing how far down the body the mottled pattern goes. Olives are mottled only on top. Kelp bass are mottled all over.

Any experts available to confirm/refute/refine this distinction?

Milton Love has a good fish id book. His Calico (S. dalli) description says max size 11". His Olive RF (S. serranoides) description calls out calls out an absence of reddish stippling on the scales as an identifying character. Serranoides will also exceed 2' at maturity.

His book is one of the best for Pac Coast fishes.

 

[ScubaVideo]

Milton Love has a good fish id book. His Calico (S. dalli) description says max size 11". His Olive RF (S. serranoides) description calls out calls out an absence of reddish stippling on the scales as an identifying character. Serranoides will also exceed 2' at maturity.

His book is one of the best for Pac Coast fishes.

Guess they would be brownish at depth?

Is it this book? It's out of stock though.

 

[spoolin01]

Milton Love has a good fish id book. His Calico (S. dalli) description says max size 11". His Olive RF (S. serranoides) description calls out calls out an absence of reddish stippling on the scales as an identifying character. Serranoides will also exceed 2' at maturity.

His book is one of the best for Pac Coast fishes.

Calico bass 11"!!

I thought calicos were a major spearfishing target in SoCal. When I was at San Clemente I saw lots of what I thought were calicos, all much bigger than 11". I see Wikipedia gives 28" for their max size...

Ah..., S. dalli is the calico rockfish, not the bass pictured above....

 

[Guy Alcala]

I've got 1500+ dives in the Monterey area.

Hilton's Aeolid is not uncommon in Monterey. I see them every
25 dives or so. It varies from year to year. I remember that one
year there were LOTS of them.

Sea Hares are very occasional. < 1 per 100 dives.

Same for me, usually somewhere at BW.

Sheepshead are quite common inside Pt. Lobos State Natural
Reserve ("old Pt. Lobos") (more than half my dives on rocky
substrate), but uncommon
elsewhere (< 1 per 100 dives). I suspect that's because they are
fished out elsewhere, but will hopefully come back in the areas
protected by the MLPA.

Calico bass? I can't ever remember seeing one. Olive rockfish
are common on the right habitat.

Chuck

I've seen Calico Bass at Lobos, IIRR once at Monastery, and once (that I remember) along the Big Pipe at BW. To me they look more streamlined than rockfish, as well as having a different pattern of light-colored spots either side of the dorsal fin. They were definitely not Olive or Yellowtail Rockfish.

Guy

 

[KRL1973]

I see calico/kelp bass (same thing) regularly at lobos and have seen them several times at breakwater far out along the wall, shallow (10-15ft.) in the kelp. That part of breakwater seems to harbor more of the fish species associated with warmer water (I see blacksmiths and opaleye there regularly as well and very rarely see them anywhere else)

ken L

 

[opisthobranch]

There are definitely Calico Bass in Whaler's Cove. The top picture that Ben posted is my picture and was taken at Point Lobos - I think in the sand channel near the worm patch. I've seen it in that area and also a bit east of there. Might only be the one animal as every sighting I've seen has been of a lone, rather large fish. Whaler's cove is the only place I've seen a calico bass locally. Olive rockfish OTOH are quite common. Well, I think they're common. I've never been completely sure whether our local fish are Olive rockfish or Yellowtail Rockfish (or both).

Clinton

 

[pacificgal]

Thank you, Clinton, I was pretty sure the specimen I saw was too large to be a rockfish, yes, I know some rockfish get quite big, but this one was big big, and had a black tail.

 

[Guy Alcala]

There are definitely Calico Bass in Whaler's Cove. The top picture that Ben posted is my picture and was taken at Point Lobos - I think in the sand channel near the worm patch. I've seen it in that area and also a bit east of there. Might only be the one animal as every sighting I've seen has been of a lone, rather large fish. Whaler's cove is the only place I've seen a calico bass locally. Olive rockfish OTOH are quite common. Well, I think they're common. I've never been completely sure whether our local fish are Olive rockfish or Yellowtail Rockfish (or both).

Clinton

One of the guidebooks, Humann/Hall or maybe one of the others, says that the distribution is more or less split north/south, and IIRR it's the Yellowtails that are supposed to be up here, although there is some mixing. IIRC the only visual difference that you can likely see underwater is the angle (vertical versus sloped) of the posterior edge of the anal fin, which is difficult to judge when a fish is swimming. ISTR the only sure visual method to tell them apart is counting the number of rays in the anal? fin, but I may be thinking of some other species.

Guy

 

[sfobiologo]

Yes that's the one.
too bad about it being out of print but you probably can find it in a used bookstore.