Robert N. Lea

Rocky intertidal fish communities of California: temporal and spatial variation

SynopsisWe examined data from our own and published collections of intertidal and shallow littoral fishes of the North American Pacific Coast with respect to temporal and spatial trends in species composition and dominance. We compared (1) recent and past intertidal collections made five and seven years apart, respectively, for two California localities, (2) intertidal collections from twelve localities in California, Oregon, and British Columbia, and (3) intertidal versus subtidal collections at one California locality. Temporal comparisons indicated substantially lower abundance of the cottid Oligocottus snyderi at two California localities during 1984, at one locality due to depressed abundance of young. Interannual differences in abundances suggested that other tidepool fish assemblages undergo significant changes as well. Geographical comparisons indicated general similarity in species composition, with cottids predominating in tidepools although several other families also were well represented (e.g., Stichaeidae, Scorpaenidae). Eel-shaped stichaeids and pholids occurred at high densities in exposed boulder fields. Both the tidepool and boulder field assemblages showed north-south changes in species abundances. Comparison of collections from the intertidal and subtidal zones at one California locality demonstrated that fishes of these habitats form two essentially distinct assemblages, with most species restricted to or concentrated in one or the other habitat.

Taxonomic revisions within Embiotocidae (Teleostei, Perciformes) based on molecular phylogenetics

Embiotocidae, a unique family within the Perciformes that has evolved a complex viviparous natural history, has lacked full resolution and strong support in several interspecific relationships until recently. Here we propose three taxonomic revisions within embiotocid surfperches based on recent molecular phylogenetic analyses that robustly resolve all interspecific relationship in the Eastern Pacific species: Hypsurus caryi (Agassiz, 1853) resurrected to its original name Embiotoca caryi Agassiz, 1853, Rhacochilus vacca (Girard, 1855) shifted into the genus Phanerodon Girard, 1854, and Hyperprosopon anale Agassiz, 1861 separated into the available genus Hypocritichthys Gill, 1862. The proposed changes would leave three previously paraphyletic groups monophyletic (Embiotoca, Hyperprosopon, and Phanerodon) and would maintain the current number of genera at 13.

Records of Wahoo, Acanthocybium solandri (Scombridae), from California

The summers of 2014 and 2015 generated many tales of warm-water fishes being caught in the local southern California sport fishery, including Dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus), Blue Marlin (Makaira nigricans), Shortbill Spearfish (Tetrapturus angustirostris), Yellowfin Tuna (Thunnus albacares), and Wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri) among other tropical species. The news media (both print and television), sport fishing reports, and photographic records of Wahoo caught off California were numerous. For example, Phil Friedman (PFORadio.com) reported Wahoo being caught at 14-Mile Bank, off Orange County (33◦23.92′N, 118◦00.20′W) on October 4, 2015. Alex Dobuzinskis (Reuters, November 13, 2015) reported that in 2015 there were 256 catches of Wahoo by party boats from Southern California according to Chad Woods of the Sportfishingreport.com. Currently, Kells, Rocha, and Allen (2016) list the range as “recently recorded from Newport Beach and San Diego, CA. Historically south of the U.S.-Mexican border to Peru, including southern Gulf of California and Galápagos Islands.” There have been unsubstantiated reports from previous years. Pete Thomas writes of a Wahoo being snagged in Alamitos Bay in 20101, but, it may have been transported there by longrange fishing vessel and released. In the period of 1997-99 while compiling records of tropical fishes occurring off California during the 1997-1998 El Niño event, Lea and Rosenblatt (2000) received several reports of Wahoo being caught off southern California. However, without photo documentation or a substantiating specimen, these reports were not included. A search of all the museum online databases revealed no preserved museum specimens from north of the United States – Mexico boundary. There is one LACM specimen (37950-1) from the San Pedro Fish Market, California, recorded in 1966 (a year of normal sea surface temperature) but with no specific locality data. This specimen could have reached the market from anywhere in the eastern tropical Pacific. To date, there have been no museum specimens preserved from California waters, this being the first. The first Wahoo documented from California was caught on August 30, 2014 and weighed in at the Balboa Angling Club in Newport Beach (Western Outdoor News, Sept. 5, 2014). The fish was caught by Eric Kim about 32 km (20 mi.) off Newport near the 267 spot (approx. 33◦18′N, 117◦50′W). It measured 152.4 cm (60 in.) in length and weighed 22.7 kg (50.1 lbs.). Following this catch there were at least eight additional Wahoo landed in September. These came from three areas: off San Diego (9 Mile Bank and Hidden Bank), San Clemente Island, and the waters outside Dana Point. Weights for these fish were from 15.9 to 21.5 kg (35 to 47.3 lbs.). In late October, a 38.2 kg (84.3 lbs.) fish was caught out of Dana Point Harbor; the water was 22.7◦ C (72.8◦ F)2. In October there were several reports of Wahoo, in the 18-22 kg (40-48 lbs.) range that were landed by spear fishermen3.

Records of the longfin gunnel, Pholis clemensi , from California with a southern range extension to Point Lobos, California

donna e. kline, nicholas e. donlou, robert n. lea, james b. lindholm and geoffrey g. shester Institute for Applied Marine Ecology at California State University, Monterey Bay, 100 Campus Center, Seaside, CA 93955, California Department of Fish and Game (retired), Marine Region, 20 Lower Ragsdale Drive, Monterey, California 93940 and California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California 94118, Oceana, 99 Pacific Street, Suite 155C, Monterey, California, 93940

An Abnormally Colored Redbanded Rockfish, Sebastes babcocki

Four species of eastern North Pacific rockfishes of the genus Sebastes are easily distinguished from their congeners by the coloration characteristic of broad lateral banding. These species are the Tiger Rockfish, S. nigrocinctus; Treefish, S. serriceps; Flag Rockfish, S. rubrivinctus; and Redbanded Rockfish, S. babcocki. These species are shown to be closely related and have been placed in the Sebastichthys clade by Hyde and Vetter (2007). The Tiger Rockfish and Treefish are distinguished by differences in their general body form and coloration of the banding pattern. The Treefish invariably exhibits alternating black, brown, or dark green and yellow bars, and the lips are distinctly pink to red (rarely without coloration). The Tiger Rockfish manifests greater variation in banding with the darker bars being primarily red, but can vary from reddish-black to reddish-brown. The alternating lighter bars are mainly white, but occasionally show a reddish hue. The Flag and Redbanded rockfishes possess alternating red and white bars (Love et al., 2002). The general similarity in body shape and color pattern between the latter two species was cause for them to be considered conspecific from shortly after the year of description of S. babcocki (Thompson, 1915) until Rosenblatt and Chen (1972) clarified the distinction of these species and pointed out a number of meristic and morphological characteristics that definitively separate these two species. The Flag Rockfish was described in the late 1800’s (Jordan and Gilbert, 1880). On 10 February 2004, a uniformly red rockfish (Fig. 1) was encountered by Diane Haas, then a Fishery Technician with the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, during routine sampling of commercial groundfishes. The F/V Alex Kevin D had unloaded three market categories of groundfishes: Longspine Thornyhead, Sebastolobus altivelis; Shortspine Thornyhead, S. alascanus; and Blackgill Rockfish, Sebastes melanostomus, which were to be sampled. The uniformly red rockfish was included in the Blackgill Rockfish market category, where a 50 pound cluster was randomly selected from a total landing of 764 pounds. The species composition of the cluster consisted of Blackgill Rockfish, one Rosethorn Rockfish, S. helvomaculatus, and the uniformly red rockfish. Also present in the landing, but not included in the sample, were at least two Rougheye Rockfish, S. aleutianus, (from California the species is now considered as Blackspotted Rockfish, Sebastes melanostictus [Orr and Hawkins, 2008]). The fishes were taken in Monterey Bay (ca. 36u479 N, 122u079 W) by commercial longline gear on the continental slope at a depth of 200–260 fathoms (366–475 meters). The red rockfish was not immediately identifiable with any of the red-colored, outer shelf-upper slope rockfishes normally encountered off central California and was Bull. Southern California Acad. Sci. 111(1), 2012, pp. 22–24 E Southern California Academy of Sciences, 2012