Background

The majority of rockfish live in the North Pacific, though species also inhabit the South Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans.

Main Diet

Most rockfish feed chiefly on small fish, squid, crabs, shrimp and other invertebrates.

Old Veterans

The rougheye rockfish, found from Japan to Alaska and south to California, enjoys one of the greatest life spans of any marine fish: They may live two centuries or more. According to the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, they primarily target pandalid shrimp, but also feast on other invertebrates and fish.

Ocean Dynamics

Research from Chesapeake Bay showed that menhaden, a fish heavily impacted by overfishing and other mortality factors, became less available to rockfish in that area during the 1990s. As a proportion of the rockfish predator's diet, they fell from some 66 percent to only 12 percent.

Commercial Effects

Also in Chesapeake Bay, a 2000 study by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science demonstrated that rockfish consumed less than 5 percent annually of the population of young blue crabs, and likely had less of an impact on that species' numbers than did humans.

Source:

Family Sebastidae (FishBase.com)

Rougheye Rockfish (NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center)

"Turning the Tide: Saving the Chesapeake Bay;" Tom Horton; 2003.

Resource:

Marine Sportfish Identification: Rockfish (California Dept. of Fish & Game)