Fig. 365.—Rosefish, Sebastes marinus Linnæus. Cape Cod.
Fig. 366.—Skull of Scorpænichthys marmoratus Girard, showing the suborbital stay (a).
The Scorpion-fishes: Scorpænidæ.—The vast family of Scorpænidæ, or scorpion-fishes, comprises such a variety of forms as almost to defy diagnosis. The more primitive types are percoid in almost all respects, save in the presence of the subocular stay. Their scales are ctenoid and well developed. The dorsal spines are numerous and strong. The ventral fins are complete and normally attached; the anal has three strong spines. The cranium shows only a trace of spiny ridges, and the five spines on the preoperculum are not very different from those seen in some species of bass. The gill-arches are, however, different, there being but 3½ gills and no slit behind the last. Otherwise the mouth and pharanx show no unusual characters. In the extremes of the group, however, great changes take place, the head becomes greatly distorted with ridges and grooves, the anal spines are lost, and the dorsal spines variously modified. The scales may be lost or replaced by warts or prickles and the ventral fins may be greatly reduced. Still the changes are very gradual, and it is not easy to divide the group into smaller families.
The most primitive existing genus is doubtless Sebastes. The familiar rosefish, Sebastes marinus, is found on both shores of the north Atlantic. It is bright red in color and is valued as food. As befits a northern fish, it has an increased number of vertebræ (31) and the dorsal spines number 15. From its large haddock-like eye it has been called the Norway haddock. It is an important food-fish in New England as well as in northern Europe.
Fig. 367.—Sebastolobus altivelis Gilbert. Alaska.
In the north Pacific Sebastes gives place to Sebastolobus, with three species (macrochir, altivelis, and alascanus), all bright-red fishes of soft substance and living in rather deep water. Sebastolobus is characterized by its two-lobed pectoral fin, the lower rays being enlarged.
The genus Sebastodes, with its rougher-headed ally Sebastichthys, with 13 dorsal spines and the vertebræ 27, ranges farther south than Sebastes and forms one of the most characteristic features of the fauna of California and Japan, 50 species occurring about California and 25 being already known from Japan. One species (Sebastichthys capensis) is recorded from the Cape of Good Hope, and two, Sebastichthys oculatus and S. darwini, from the coast of Chile.