Young of the Year Rockfish Habitat Identification

Led by Dayv Lowry and Adam Obaza, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association
Collaborators include the SeaDoc Society, REEF Environmental Education Foundation and numerous SCUBA clubs in the region

Rockfish hold their eggs inside their body until they hatch, and then give birth to live young. But they don’t give birth every year. Instead they have what scientists like to call jackpot recruitment, which means they produce a large amount of offspring on rare occasions. This sudden and unexpected burst of young helps ensure that not all of the babies get eaten by predators.

We do not have a good understanding on when they give birth and where the new baby fish, called recruits, go to mature. This study will help us better understand the type of ocean habitats that rockfish need to grow up and ultimately will help us identify areas that we need to protect to.

• NOAA: Local Divers Plunge into Puget Sound to Count Endangered Rockfish