Century Old Fish Caught In Alaska

April 6, 2007—A handful of Christians preparing rockfish as part of their traditional fish dinner this Good Friday might be feasting on one of the oldest creatures ever to live in Alaskan waters.

Commercial fishers in the Bering Sea recently hauled in the female shortraker rockfish seen above, which scientists say was between 90 and 115 years old. Researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) used growth rings in the fish's ear bone, or otolith, to make their age estimate.

NOAA scientists also found that the fish's advanced years had yet to take a toll on its reproductive abilities.

"The belly was large," NOAA researcher Paul Spencer told the Associated Press. "The ovaries were full of developing embryos."

A Seattle, Washington-based ship caught the 44-inch-long (112-centimenter-long), 60-pound (27-kilogram) fish while trawling for pollock at about 2,100 feet (640 meters) below the surface. The massive mama was among ten shortrakers pulled from the depths along with roughly 75 tons of the smaller commercially fished species.

The fish's age and size both approach the maximum known limits for shortrakers. The largest on record measured 47 inches (119 centimeters) long, and the oldest ever caught was 157 years.

I love it when newseys get things wrong. That’s a snapper, not a rockfish=stripped bass.

I love it when people get correcting others wrong.

It's a rockfish.

In the Pacific, that's definitely a rockfish. They're sort of like groupers and snapper, and live in very deep water.

They are of course not in the least similar to striped bass, of which the term "rockfish" is a purely local colloquialism for them in Maryland and Virginia.

There's only one TRULY correct name for a fish, and that's the latin scientific name, but there are "official" unofficial names for various fish. "Striped Bass" for stripers(or rockfish) on the east coast is one. And "rockfish" is what those fish called, of which there are many different species, in the Pacific, by fishermen, the US Government, etc.

Another good example is the "weakfish" which lives from North Carolina to New England, is called a "Squeateague" by old-timers in Massachusetts (this name is dying out), a "weakfish" in NY and NJ, and a "sea trout" in Delaware and Maryland (though it doesn't have the slightest relation to trout, they're actually members of the drum family) and "gray trout" in Virginia and North Carolina. ALL the same species.

However a "Sea Trout" in South Carolina is a different but related species, the Spotted Sea Trout or what folks in Virginia and Maryland would call a "Speckled Trout."

Also, the Black Sea Bass familiar to East Coasters (never bigger than 10 lbs and living in massive schools on wrecks and reefs) is COMPLETELY different from the Black Sea Bass familar to Californians (A giant grouper that can weigh 500+ lbs.)

Interestingly in California there's a fish very closely related to weakfish that look identical except for being less colorful, that get much bigger, called a "White Sea Bass" - it is no relation to either the California Black Sea Bass or the East Coast Black Sea Bass.

FROM the Alaska Fisheries website fyi:

The shortraker rockfish (Sebastes borealis) can grow to 48 in. (120 cm) in size and reach 50.6 lb. (23 kg) in weight, making them one of the largest rockfishes. Shortrakers smaller than 14 in. (35 cm) are rarely found. The shortraker name refers to their knob-tipped stubby gill rakers, and its Arctic habitat inspired the Latin name borealis, meaning “northern”. They are also called buoy keg, snapper, and blackthroated rockfish, among other names. When viewed underwater, shortrakers are white, having blotches and saddles that are pink, pink-orange, or red in color. There may be black on all fins and white on the tips of the dorsal fin. They appear orange-pink or reddish orange when out of water. The shortrakers also have large pores on their lower jaws and occasionally black tumors can develop on their skin. Shortrakers are often confused with the red-colored rougheye rockfish.

Shortrakers are common from British Columbia to eastern Kamchatka, but can be found from the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands south to Japan and southern California. They are found at depths of 83 ft. to 3,960 ft. (25-1,200 m). According to Alaska longline surveys and trawl studies, the shortrakers are most abundant between 990 ft. and 1,650 ft. (300-500 m). The older shortrakers are found in deeper water than the younger ones. These fish live alone or in small groups on steeply sloped boulder fields surrounded by soft substratum and commonly ascend up to 33 ft. (10 m) above the seafloor. Shortrakers have been found to prey on lanternfishes, squid, octopi, shrimp, crab, krill, and other small crustaceans.

Shortrakers have been aged to 157 years. Russian researchers have estimated the age of maturity at 9-12 years. From Alaska to Oregon maturity size commonly ranges between 13 in. to 18 in. (34-45 cm). Reports indicate that spawning occurs at depths of 990 ft. to 1,650 ft. (300-500 m) during June and July in the western Bering Sea and off Kamchatka. The females have egg-filled ovaries that are cream-colored, which is unusual among rockfishes. Embryos fully develop from March to July and larval release can extend into late summer or early fall.

This species is important (or moderately important) to the commercial longline and trawl fisheries from Washington to the Bering Sea. They are occasionally taken off Oregon and California. In other fisheries, shortrakers are taken as incidental catch.

Adapted from Love, M. 2002 Sebastes borealis, p. 136-137. In M. S. Love, M. Yoklavich, and L. Thorsteinson, The rockfishes of the northeast Pacific. Univ. California Press.

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