All About the Bocaccio Rockfish - By: Tauqeer Hassan

Latin name: Sebastes paucispinis
Best time to catch: None, due to restrictions
Also known as: Pacific red snapper, red snapper, rock cod, salmon grouper

Bocaccio is one of the largest of about seventy species of rockfish that inhabit the Pacific coast from the Gulf of Alaska to Mexico. It is abundant off the central and southern coast of California.

It has a fairly large mouth. The upper jaw is long and extends beyond the eyes; the lower jaw is considerably behind the upper jaw. The forward dorsal fin is notched and has sharp spines. The body color ranges from olive to burnt orange or brown on the back and from pink to red along the belly.

As with all rockfish, the eggs hatch in the female, and she gives birth to live young. Bocaccio mate in early fall; the young are released several months later. Depending on her size, each female produces from 20,000 to 2.3 million eggs. The fry move toward the surface of the water and remain there for several months. Later they settle as a group anywhere from nearshore areas to depths of 95 to 395 feet. They grow rapidly and can reach 9 inches in length by the time they are a year old. They feed on plankton at first, then on crustaceans. When large enough they feed on smaller rockfish. Bocaccio can live 30 years or more, weigh as much as 24 pounds, and reach 36 inches in length, although most range from 20 to 24 inches in length.

Adults prefer bottom to midlevel waters over gravel-littered rocky formations and kelp beds from 250 to 725 feet deep.

Bocaccio numbers have been severely depleted because of heavy fishing pressure over the past twenty years or so. Releasing any bocaccio you catch will help increase the stocks.

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Now you have known a lot about bocaccio fish. You also should have an idea about how to feed fish in your garden if you want to have fish in your garden. And if you are fond of fishing, you should also know how to catch a pompano dolphin fish.

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