Rockfish is a common term for several species of fish, referring to their tendency to hide among rocks.
The name rockfish is used for many kinds of fish used for food.[1] This common name belongs to several groups that are not closely related, and can be arbitrary.[2]
Specific examples of fish termed rockfish include:
- The family Sebastidae, marine fishes that inhabit oceans around the world. They may be included in the family Scorpaenidae.[3]
- Sebastes,[4] a commercially important genus of fish in the Sebastidae inhabiting mainly the North Pacific, but with a few species in the North Atlantic and southern oceans
- In Washington State, many species of Sebastes and a few of Sebastolobus are called rockfish.[5]
- Sebastol are called rockfish
- Acanthoclinus, a genus of fish from New Zealand
- Bull huss or bull huss (Scyliorhinus stellaris), a shark known as rock salmon when used in cuisine
- Hexagrammos, a genus of greenling from the North Pacific
- Hypoplectrodes, a genus of fish in the family Serranidae
- Salvelinus, a genus of fish in the salmon family
- The stonefishes (genus Synanceia), venomous fishes from the Indo-Pacific
- Striped bass (Morone saxatilis), called rockfish on the Atlantic coast of North America from New Jersey south[6]
- Groupers, fish in the subfamily Epinephelinae
- Certain fish of genus Scorpaena, such as the Madeira rockfish (S. maderensis), a common Mediterranean species
- Myliobatis goodei, which is sometimes called "rockfish"