Blue Rockfish
Blue Rockfish (Sebastes mystinus) is a saltwater species. The first thing to check: a smoothly rounded rear margin on the anal fin, not straight or slanted. The look-alike to rule out is Black Rockfish: black rockfish have a straight or forward-slanting anal fin margin, bolder dark mottling and a larger mouth reaching past the middle of the eye.
Last updated
| Scientific name | Sebastes mystinus |
|---|---|
| Also called | blues, blue bass, reef perch |
| Water | Saltwater |
| Group | Rockfish |
| Temperature | Feeds between about 45 and 58 °F. |
How to identify a Blue Rockfish
- A smoothly rounded rear margin on the anal fin, not straight or slanted.
- Slate blue to blue-grey with soft mottling that is far less contrasty than a black rockfish's.
- A relatively small mouth for a rockfish, with the upper jaw ending below the middle of the eye.
If you would rather not work through a key on a wet deck, photograph the fish and let the app name it — you get the common and the scientific name back, and the record is filed before you release.
Fish it is mistaken for
| Species | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Black Rockfish | Black rockfish have a straight or forward-slanting anal fin margin, bolder dark mottling and a larger mouth reaching past the middle of the eye. |
| Yellowtail Rockfish | Yellowtail have a distinctly yellow-green tail and fine brown speckling over a lighter body. |
Side-by-side comparisons
Read the full entry for Black Rockfish.
Where it lives
The Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja, schooling in kelp and over shallow rocky reef, often high in the water column.
Temperature
Feeds between about 45 and 58 °F.
The conditions that matter
Blue rockfish school in the kelp canopy and mid-water rather than on the bottom, so finding the depth of the school is the whole job. Pacific groundfish rules are often depth-based and split by species group, so recording depth alongside each fish serves compliance as well as pattern.
Global Fishing League records 18 weather and water readings against every catch automatically — tide stage, barometric pressure, water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, swell, current, moon phase and more, taken at your GPS position at the moment you log the fish. Over a season that turns a hunch about blue rockfish into a pattern you can read.
See every reading recorded with a catch, or the guides to what each reading means.
Size limits, bag limits and seasons
Size limits, bag limits, slot limits and seasons are set by your state wildlife agency — and for many offshore and migratory species by federal regulators — and on many waters they differ from the statewide rule. They also change between seasons. Check the current regulations for the exact water you are fishing before you keep a fish — we do not republish limits here, because a number that is a season out of date is worse than no number.
What the app does do is make your side of it accurate: every catch carries a length measured from the photograph, a GPS position and a timestamp, exportable if you ever need to show your work for a tournament or a record claim. It is also what a Global Fishing League entry is built from — a record that verifies itself, without publishing where you caught the fish.