Rockfish ID: Canary vs Vermillion

reposted from Coastside:

Canary vs Vermillion


Black spot on dorsal fin and forked tail seem to be the main ID method outside coloring.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/canary_id.pdf

Only a color blind person would have difficulty getting these two mixed up!!!

Stuart

Here's one for you. This fish is in a very large aquarium at the Bodega Marine Lab.  First of all it's red, but both species can be red.  It's got a gray/white band from head to tail, light mottling (not dark), no dark edges on the fins, a rounded anal fin and a straight caudal fin.   Oh, and though it's not visible here it has some rough scales on the chin.

I'm calling it a vermilion, but it has the gray/white band, lack of dark mottling and the dark fin edges suggestive of a canary.  These color differences are (IMO) more likely to vary than the morphological features like fin shape and chin scales.

IMO they're easier to confuse with copper rockfish.  Both have a grey lateral stripe and both are orangish, though the copper is more brown in color.  I've seen kind of funny looking vermilions, (not canary like though) but the canaries I've seen have been pretty consistent in color/pattern.

Maybe the guy above is an inadvertent hybrid?  He may also be amelanistic.  Amel critters lack all black color and only keep reds/yellows of their skin pigment.

Good example!

If I caught one of these, I'd probably release it because of the light mottling... thinking Canary... even though it is more red than orange in color, I would have questioned whether it was a Canary since I'm not usually up on the morphological identification features...

I'd have to say though, that I can't recall ever catching a vermillion that wasn't very obviously a vermillion.

Erik

Although I'm pretty sure this is a vermilion, I'd have to say that I'd probably play it safe and release it as well.  I imagine that the game wardens out there probably don't do a full diagnostic and only know one (maybe two) of the key characteristics.  My luck, Mr. Warden would be all about the gray line and give me a ticket.

Brian

Brian,
I believe its a vermillion.

Is it just me?  Every time I go to that place, most of the vermillions (and other species of rockfish) at the MB Aquarium are really, really light in color and don't seem that vibrant in color compared to the wild.  I'm guessing it has to do either with the food or being cooped up in a large tank.

All the canaries I've seen look very similar to the picture, ranging from yellow to slightly orange.

Stuart

They all get a darker tan, what being kept in a tank with perfectly clear water and sunlight only 20ft up!

There seem to be a huge number of species of rockfish and the differences between a lot of them seem awfully damn subtle to me.,..but they eat about the same...grin...IW

I took a look at my copy of "The Rockfishes of the Northeast Pacific"

and it confirms what others have mentioned that underwater vermilion rockfish are lighter in color and have a gray mark along there lateral line.

By the way, it you're interested in rockfish I highly recommend this book.   Here's a link to the Amazon page for this book if anyone wants to read more about it.  It's a beautiful book full of color photos and detailed information for every species of rockfish on the West Coast.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0520234383/qid=1120417103/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_ur_1/102-3596299-3100130?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Reds don't look as red in an aquarium or underwater because red light is the first color of light spectrum to be "absorbed" by water.

While it is true that the longer wave lengths of light (i.e. red) are the first to be "absorbed", light attenuation is a function of how much water the light has to pass and not necessarily the depth of the object.  In the case of this particular photo, the fish was in about 5 feet of water but only 3 inches from the glass.  The light light source in this case was from the room rather than the water's surface and only had to pass 3 inches of water before reaching the fish.

Rub your finger under the chin, if it needs a shave it's a vermilion, if it's smooth it's a canary.

Indeed!  I caught my first vermillion yesterday and yep, the jaw line feels like 00 sand paper.
Pat