Northwest Dive Club

Team,

Please report any sightings on Yellow Eye & Canary Rockfish in Puget Sound. Scientists at WDFW still need info on Yellow Eye sightings (which I reported earlier in separate posting). They are in particular interested in Juveniles.

The request was expanded to Canary Rockfish in Puget Sound as well.
Also they are in particular interested in Juveniles.

Please report Yellow Eye Rockfish sightings in the other chain under: "Juvenile Yellow Eye Rockfish at Alki Cove 2 I-beams today"
We will focus here on Canary Rockfish juveniles.

How to identify the Canary Rockfish Juvenile ?

Bob said: "juveniles will likely have the black spot on the first dorsal and will be pretty pale"

Here are the pictures of younger Juvenile I (Marek) captured at Keystone in May 2014:

Please click on any picture if you want to enlarge.
Here are the pictures from Jan Kocian. He has been usually finding them at Keystone in September & October in the earlier years.
Please note that Jan's Juvenile seem to be older or more grown then mine and that is why bigger change in color and pattern.
Though the characteristic black blotch/spot on the first dorsal fin is common.
Please either post your Canary Rockfish sightings pictures with location and date info here, or contact Bob directly at:
Robert.Pacunski@dfw.wa.gov
Juvenile are in particular important to Scientists,

BTW: I have only seen the adult Canary Rockfish in Seattle aquarium. It was almost yellow versus all the Vermilion Rockfish I photographed in Puget Sound going from red, orange and sometimes orange/white patterns.

Cheers
Marek

I saw a YellowEye at Cove2 last night

Marek, your top two photos are Yellowtail Rockfish, not Canary rockfish.
Jan's are definitely Canary Rockfish however.

- Janna

nwscubamom wrote:Marek, your top two photos are Yellowtail Rockfish, not Canary rockfish.
Jan's are definitely Canary Rockfish however.
- Janna

Hi Janna,

Thank you for your comment !
I had similar concern looking at Andy Lamb book ""Coastal Fishes of the Pacific Northwest"
Both Canary & Yellow Tail Rockfish Juveniles have this black blotch on the first dorsal fin.
However the feedback I got from WDFW Research Scientist was:
"That looks suspiciously like a juvenile canary. I am not surprised that you saw this at Keystone since Wayne and I think we saw some there back in the 90’s. Let me know if you run into more of them. This would be a good shot to post to the dive site for diver reference. "

It is probably better for Scientists to make final decision which one it is and report any juvenile with the black blotch / spot.

Marek,
Here's a flow chart that I put together for REEF that can help you with your YOY IDs. And more specifically here's what to look for on a Canary YOY (actually more like juvies, since these shown in Jan's photos are larger individuals) and a Yellowtail YOY. While both do have a distinct dorsal spot and can be yellow to orange in color, here are some differences that are apparent underwater. There's a lot more to it than just "juveniles will likely have the black spot on the first dorsal and will be pretty pale".

Canary YOY:
Yellow orange color with white mottling.
Distinct thick white marking along lateral line

Yellowtail YOY:
Darker area below dorsal fin that contains several light blotches
Speckling on body

If you are more interested in learning about YOY ID, you can request to view a presentation about Pacific NW YOY ID from the REEF archives page:
http://www.REEF.org/fishinararchives

Bottom line though - I am 100% certain your top two photos are Yellowtail YOY Rockfish, not Canary rockfish.

Respectfully,
- Janna

Thank you Janna !
This is precious info that will help Everyone identify and report the right juvenile !

A true Young of Year (less than a year old) Canary Rockfish looks like this: As they get older, they look more like this: (note bright white lateral line along body)

Now in contrast, here's a Yellowtail YOY: (note yellow tail and other fins, as well as the blotches surrounded by a dark area under the dorsal fin)

Hope this side-by-side comparison shows you the differences and you can see those features in your original photos.

- Janna
PS: You might remove your top 2 photos (or add a note to them) to avoid confusion to anyone stumbling onto this thread and not reading through to the end...

Looks like the canary has the streaks on it's face like the blue rockfish, and the yellowtail doesn't.

I saw a small rockfish at the Edmonds oil dock. Not sure what kind other then super cute. He was the size of a gold fish and just swam along with me

Nice shot! Yeah, they are cute. That will likely grow up to be a Quillback Rockfish, possibly a Copper. Kind of hard to tell from this angle and at this stage.