Author: Storer, 1856
Sebastes fasciatus Storer, 1856
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Sebastes fasciatus Storer, 1854 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: dorsal fin with 14-16 (usually 15) spines and 12-17 (usually 13-15) rays; anal fin with 3 spines and 6-9 (usually 7-8) rays; pectoral fin with 17-20 (more often 19) rays. 31-38 (more often 33) scales on lateral line. Vertebrae 29-32, mostly 30. Colour: bright or greyish-red with a dusky zone on upper and posterior part of opercle. Size: to 42 cm, usually to 30 cm.
Habitat: most abundant on the banks off Atlantic coast of North America at 70 to 500 m. Behaviour: gregarious during all life. Food: euphausiids (Meganyctiphanes norvegica, Thysanopoda), decapods, mysids, small molluscs and fishes. Reproduction: ovoviviparous; insemination of the females from June to August or even November; the ripe oocytes are fertilized from November to February and the larvae are released from June to August or even to October.
Distribution: in the Clofnam area, off Iceland and western Greenland ( 18 specimens known). Elsewhere from the south-eastern coast of Labrador southward to latitude of Long I. (Sebastes fasciatus fasciatus); shallow water at Eastport, Maine (S. fasciatus kellyi).
Subspecies
Sebastes fasciatus fasciatus: pectoral fin on internal side without small scales. Colour of body bright red or greyish-red.
Sebastes fasciatus kellyi Litvinenko, 1974: pectoral fin on internal side with small scales. Colour of body black or dark green-bronze.