Canary Rock Fish.

I read on the DFG website that the Canary has a smooth chin. Is that the only rockfish with a smooth chin? I pulled a bunch of fish out of the water on Saturday in Carmel that had smooth chins. I wasnt positive that they were canaries but not knowing for sure, I threw them back. They didnt have the grey stripe, and they were orangish with spots.

Hiya Kim,

There are lots of Coppers in that area.  I've never noticed if their chins are smooth or rough.  I'll check next one I get.

Pat

Coppers do have a smooth chin, what they don't have is a fork for the tail.

Here are some comparison shots

http://db.id.ucsb.edu/quicktime/detail.asp?Id=111
http://db.id.ucsb.edu/quicktime/detail.asp?Id=135
http://db.id.ucsb.edu/quicktime/detail.asp?Id=210

The third picture on the vermillion page I would have called canary except for the tails.

Pat

I noticed too, the fish that were in question had two little stubs like miniature horns on their heads. We were also thinking they may have been cabezon. Do any rock fish have little stubby horns above their eyes like that?  

Those were Coppers then.  Coppers are a very rough looking fish.  When I have a cabezon, I know for sure that it is a cabezon.  When I have a big Copper, I get fooled by their faux horns, so I check for scales.  Cabezon don't have scales.
pat

Copper rockfish are brown instead of orange.  In the beginning I confused copper and gopher rockfish because both are brownish coppery collored.  Could've gotten me a ticket one day if I'd been checked when they had that asanine 2 fish limit for the shallow water nearshore rockfish category.