Are the spines of Sebastes venomous or not?

On one hand, I hear Sebates is related to the true Scorpionfish family and has mildly venomous spines and on the other hand, there are those who insist there is no venom. Undoubtedly, the spines are very sharp, no doubt to discourage predation as well as to perhaps help gain purchase in crevices in a challenging marine envrionment. So are the spines venemous or not and is it enough to make a difference in handling them?

Rockfish (Sebastes sp) are indeed in the same family as the Scorpionfish (the family name is actually Scorpaenidae) although some researches have recently placed rockfish in their own family (Sebastidae).

A good friend of mine, Dr. W. Leo Smith at the American Museum of Natural History, recently made a bit of a name for himself by studying which fish have venom and which don't.  Here's a reprint of his paper for those willing to work through a scientific journal article to learn more.  http://homepage.mac.com/wmleosmith/homepage/pubs/assets/SmithWheelerVenomJHered.pdf

Basically he states that Sebastes have an "anterolateral glandular groove with a venomous gland" pm their dorsal spines as well as the anal fin spines.  So the short answer is, yes they are venomous.  I'm guessing those who insist that Sebastes aren't venomous just don't react strongly to the venom.  Personally I've been nailed by rockfish spines several times and it hurts like hell. I wouldn't drop one one you lap carelessly.

Brian

Yeah... I don't need a scientific paper to prove it to me either.  I got nailed deep in the thumb by one last year and I couldn't believe how painful it was... pretty much couldn't do much with my hand for about 30 minutes because it hurt so dang bad.

EK

I've been spined by rockfish and it hurts, but it is nothing like getting nailed by a sculpin (a scorpion fish).

Luckily I personaly haven't experienced it but I watched a buddy get nailed by a sculpin and it was ugly.  Swollen pussy brutal pain for my pal.

Lesson:  Don't get spined.

Even blugill piercings will swell up and hurt.

MolBasser

The gophers and browns much more than the blues, blacks and vermilion's seem to have nasty pokes.  Another reason to shake those off the hook in addition to the fact that they a usually on the small side.

Brian, great scientific insight as always. Thanks for clearing up what was a confusing point for me: I had seen some Rockfish placed under the Scorpaenidae taxon in several sources and then under Sebastes in others and it really confused me--I thought maybe Rockfish was a colloquial term and misleading in that it was comprised of members of Sebates and Scorpaenidae.

I have a kevlar fish glove I got for cleaning them to protect me from the spines as much as the knife but haven't felt the need to use it in the kayak.
I fly fished once with Bill Nash ( a well-known authority on knots) and he had some thick metal wires bent into curious shape I cannot remember at the end, you simply hooked it on the line with a deft movement (his not mine--I struggled with it), pushed it to the hook, pulled it up and your line down, and the hook popped out. He could do it in 5 seconds. 'No touchy no pokey'. I am sure it would work for single-hook lures, not sure about trebles. I should try to find one of those although I don't like cluttering up the deck with tools with such limited space on a kayak.

What a clever fella to find a way to do basic biological research........

The results of these studies not only alter our view of the diversity of venomous fishes, now
representing.50% of venomous vertebrates, but also provide the predictive phylogeny or ‘‘road map’’ for the efficient search for potential pharmacological agents or physiological tools from the unexplored fish venoms.

Yeah, Leo bacame a bit of a media darling with that paper.  He was on the front of the New York Times science page one week about a month ago and more recently was sought after as a venomous fish expert after the untimely death of Steve Irwin to a stingray.

His next project is to do a similar study on bioluminesent fishes.