Reef & bottom · Saltwater
Dusky rockfish
Sebastes variabilis
North Pacific marine native; Bering Sea south through the Gulf of Alaska to British Columbia, most abundant in the Gulf of Alaska.
Also called light dusky rockfish.
- Offshore
- Regulated context
- 4 of 4 overlays reviewed
- Reviewed 2026-08-27
Before you target this fish
Regulated context — check the rules for the exact water
Where this applies Alaska (ADF&G) sport bag/possession/area rules; dusky rockfish is also managed as a distinct Tier 3 stock under the federal Gulf of Alaska Groundfish FMP (NPFMC/NOAA Fisheries).
The reviewed context, unedited
Rockfish brought up from the depths this species holds at (roughly 100-200 m) are highly prone to barotrauma (expanded swim bladder, everted stomach, bulging eyes, distended abdomen). ADF&G's own guidance, built on yelloweye rockfish release studies, found about 98% survival when rockfish are released at capture depth within minutes versus only about 22% able to re-submerge when released at the surface, and recommends a descending device and minimizing surface time for any rockfish, regardless of visible barotrauma signs. Mandatory deepwater-release rules currently target non-pelagic rockfish in parts of Southeast Alaska; whether that mandate extends to a pelagic-shelf species like dusky rockfish in a given area was not confirmed in sourced material and should be checked against the current ADF&G sport fishing regulations booklet for the area being fished, alongside area-specific bag and possession limits.
Rules for this fish change at a state line and sometimes inside one. Check the ones that apply to the exact water you are standing on before you act on anything here — this record is biology, not permission.
Take this somewhere
This page is the record. The reading is what happens when you add water, a season and a temperature to it — that is where the families below get ranked against each other instead of just listed.
Those three links carry the fish and nothing else. No conditions were declared on this page, so none travel, and the link says so rather than sending an empty reading.
The half nobody publishes
What this record does not know
Everything else on this page comes from a named agency or peer-reviewed source. This is the other side of that: the questions a reviewer went looking for an answer to and came back without, and the fields the record leaves empty because filling them would mean guessing.
It is here rather than at the bottom because a page that only shows what it knows is easy to read as a page that knows everything. For Dusky rockfish there are 13 of them.
Named by a reviewer
10Somebody looked for this and wrote down that they did not find it.
- Behaviour
No sourced diel activity pattern; "mixed" above is a placeholder, not a documented finding.
No sourced territoriality, aggression, current-facing behavior, cold-front response, or angling-pressure response.
No sourced thermal-driven behavior for this species specifically.
- Identification
No sourced average adult length, common angling size, or typical weight distinct from maximum documented size.
Small discrepancy in reported maximum length between the NOAA/AFSC field guide (56 cm) and ADF&G/stock-assessment materials (59 cm); both recorded rather than resolved.
Very young juvenile appearance and habitat not described in sourced material.
- Forage
Juvenile and young-of-year diet not described in sourced material.
No seasonal or geographic breakdown of diet composition beyond the general adult figures.
- Season
Fall and winter habitat or depth shifts not documented in sourced material.
No sourced season-by-season diet or activity shift beyond spring parturition timing.
Absent from the record
3No reviewer wrote a gap here. The field is simply empty, which is its own answer.
- Water temperature
No agency or peer-reviewed temperature band for Dusky rockfish was found that a review would accept. The reading runs without one rather than borrowing a number from a related fish.
- Identification
No reviewed image. A photograph is only in this catalog when an agency or a named creator labelled the subject, and nobody has cleared one for this species yet.
- Population context
No regional population profile is registered. The species-level reading stands on its own; it does not silently become a local one.
Where the record puts it
Water and range
Offshore
3 reviewed holding classes- Seamount
- Offshore ledge
- Canyon edge
DepthAdults concentrate on offshore banks and near gullies on the outer continental shelf at about 100-200 m (roughly 330-650 ft), associated with rocky substrate, sponge beds, and coral. Older juveniles occur in shallower, more inshore habitat than adults; the habitat of very young juveniles is not described in sourced material.
Moving waterNot documented against tide or current in sourced material. Adults hold over offshore banks and shelf gullies rather than orienting to a visible current seam.
LightNot documented in sourced material.
Thermal band
Temperature
No reviewed temperature band
Nobody publishes a preferred or active temperature range for Dusky rockfish that a review would accept. Borrowing one from a related fish would look like knowledge and behave like a guess, so the reading runs without it and says which parts of the answer that weakens.
How it uses water
Behaviour
ADF&G's own regulatory identification guidance classifies dusky rockfish as a "pelagic rockfish" -- an open-water species found mid-water in schools near rocky structure, rather than a solitary bottom-hugger.
Adult diet is dominated by euphausiids (krill) and Pacific sand lance, together accounting for about 99% of stomach contents in recent Gulf of Alaska sampling -- consistent with mid-water plankton/small-fish feeding rather than benthic feeding (NPFMC/AFSC stock assessment).
No species-specific diel activity data (day vs. night feeding timing) were found in sourced material. "Mixed" is recorded here as an honest placeholder, not a sourced finding -- see gaps.
Depth movementAdults hold at roughly 100-200 m on offshore banks and shelf gullies; older juveniles occupy shallower, more inshore water than adults, per the Gulf of Alaska stock assessment. No finer-grained seasonal depth shift is documented.
CoverAssociates with rocky substrate, sponge beds, and coral on offshore banks and shelf gullies (NPFMC/AFSC stock assessment).
Predator avoidanceNot documented in sourced material.
Spawning (conservation context)Ovoviviparous (live-bearing); parturition of larvae is believed to occur in spring, based on ripe females sampled on an April Gulf of Alaska research cruise. As in other Sebastes, mating and fertilization occur separately from the spring release of larvae; the timing of mating is not documented in sourced material. No spawning location or aggregation is named.
Where the general rule stops
- Sebastes variabilis was only re-established as a distinct species from the very similar dark rockfish (Sebastes ciliatus) in 2004; older records and some field guides may still lump the two. Confirm coloration (pink-tinged fins/belly, light-to-dark peritoneum) and jaw pores before treating a catch as this species rather than dark rockfish.
What it can eat
Forage
- Zooplankton
- Small forage fish
Adult diet is dominated by euphausiids (krill) and Pacific sand lance, together comprising about 99% of stomach contents sampled in recent Gulf of Alaska surveys (NPFMC/AFSC stock assessment). Diet capacity is not evidence of a current bait event.
- Feeding style
- Specialized
- Feeding zone
- Pelagic
By life stage
- Adult
- Euphausiids and Pacific sand lance dominate; other prey items make up the small remainder in sourced surveys.
Diet capacity is not proof that a hatch or prey event is occurring. Observed current forage still comes from a user observation or Hatch Match.
Through the year
Season
Spring
- Where they sit
- Offshore banks and outer continental shelf gullies at roughly 100-200 m over rocky substrate, sponge beds, and coral -- the general adult habitat.
What that changesDeep-drop and vertical-jig presentations that reach the 100-200 m band remain the reviewed approach for this depth; this is a habitat/depth note, not a seasonal bite claim.
What would count against it
- treating spring parturition timing as a feeding or catch cue
Live-bearing rockfish; larval release (parturition) is believed to occur in spring based on ripe females sampled on an April Gulf of Alaska research cruise. No spawning concentration or location is described or implied.
Summer
- Where they sit
- Same offshore bank/gully structure at roughly 100-200 m described for the species generally; sourced material does not document a distinct summer habitat shift.
What that changesDeep-drop, vertical-jig, and suspended-stationary presentations in the 100-200 m depth band remain the reviewed approach.
What would count against it
- assuming a documented summer-specific habitat shift or bite window; none is described in sourced material
Spawning · Spring
Ovoviviparous (live-bearing) rockfish. Parturition (release of larvae) is believed to occur in spring, based on ripe females sampled on an April Gulf of Alaska research cruise. Mating and internal fertilization happen separately from parturition; sourced material does not document when that occurs. No spawning concentration or location is implied.
Recorded as conservation context. No spawning site, staging concentration or migration bottleneck is named anywhere in this catalog, because naming one is how a population gets fished out.
Telling it apart
Identification
What to look at
- Three pores on each side of the lower jaw and two dark bars on each cheek (ADF&G field key).
- Convex space between the eyes; head spines typically absent (NOAA/AFSC rockfish field guide).
- Fin ray counts: dorsal XIII,13-16; anal 7-9; pectoral 17-19; gill rakers 32-36 (NOAA/AFSC rockfish field guide).
- Peritoneum (body-cavity lining) light to dark, versus dark rockfish's uniformly dark peritoneum.
- Average adult length
- Not found as a distinct 'average' figure in sourced material; see maximumDocumentedSize.
- Common angling size
- Not found in sourced material.
- Typical weight
- Not found in sourced material.
- Maximum documented
- Reported maximum length varies slightly by source: the NOAA/AFSC rockfish field guide gives 21 in (56 cm), while ADF&G/stock-assessment materials give up to 23.2 in (59 cm). Both are recorded here rather than picking one.
- Longevity
- Long-lived: oldest recorded fishery sample was 76 years old (NPFMC/AFSC Gulf of Alaska stock assessment); age at 50% maturity is about 10.3 years, at roughly 40.6 cm.
What it gets confused with
- Dark rockfish (Sebastes ciliatus)
- Dark rockfish is uniformly black to dark blue on the back and sides with a uniformly dark peritoneum, versus dusky rockfish's brownish-gray to greenish-brown cast, pink-tinged fins and belly, and light-to-dark peritoneum. The two were treated as a single species until Orr & Blackburn (2004) resurrected S. variabilis as distinct from a redescribed S. ciliatus; they remain easy to confuse in the field.
- Widow rockfish / yellowtail rockfish / black rockfish (other Alaska pelagic-shelf rockfish)
- ADF&G's rockfish identification guide separates dusky from these look-alikes using the jaw pores and cheek bars (absent or different on the others) together with dusky's pink/orange fin and belly tint, versus widow rockfish's more uniform brown/brass cast and yellowtail rockfish's distinctly yellowish fins.
What follows from all of that
Presentation families
Offshore
Deep drop
Put bait on the bottom in water deep enough that the drop itself is most of the work.
- heavy enough to go straight down
- know when you are down
- short lift to check
- wind steadily
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- High
- Sensitivity
- Low
- Casting distance
- None
- Weight range
- 8–48 oz
- Cover resistance
- Moderate
- Line visibility
- Secondary
- Retie frequency
- Moderate
Vertical jig
Work a compact bait up and down through a marked depth, basin, or timber pocket.
- stay over the target
- measured lift
- controlled drop
- watch slack
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- High
- Sensitivity
- High
- Casting distance
- Vertical
- Weight range
- 1/8–3/4 oz
- Cover resistance
- Moderate
- Line visibility
- Low
- Retie frequency
- Moderate
Suspended stationary
Park a live or scent bait in the column where fish are already using a depth band.
- find the band
- hold it
- minimal motion
- refresh bait
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- High
- Sensitivity
- Moderate
- Casting distance
- Short to vertical
- Weight range
- Sinker as needed
- Cover resistance
- Low
- Line visibility
- Low
- Retie frequency
- Moderate
What moves them for this fish
Reviewed rules that push particular families up when the conditions match. Each one names the conditions it needs and why it exists, so you can disagree with it.
Dusky rockfish are classed as a pelagic, mid-water schooling species with a diet almost entirely krill and sand lance, so a presentation held or worked in the water column at the fish's depth band outranks one anchored to the bottom.
When
Offshore
Moves up
Suspended stationary, Vertical jig, Deep drop
Reviewed 2026-08-30
Where every sentence came from
Sources
Agency
NPFMC/AFSC Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation: Dusky Rockfish, Gulf of Alaska
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families; identification; behaviour; forage; season. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-27.
Agency
NOAA Fisheries / AFSC Field Guide to the Rockfishes (Scorpaenidae) of Alaska
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families; identification. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-27.
Agency
ADF&G rockfish species identification guide (jaw pores, cheek bars, coloration)
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families. Read 2026-08-27, next check 2026-11-27.
Agency
ADF&G deepwater release / rockfish barotrauma guidance
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families. Read 2026-08-27, next check 2026-11-27.
Agency
ADF&G rockfish species identification guide
Used for identification. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-21.
Agency
ADF&G rockfish species identification guide ("pelagic rockfish" schooling classification)
Used for behaviour. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-28.
Peer reviewed
Orr & Blackburn (2004), "The dusky rockfishes (Teleostei: Scorpaeniformes) of the North Pacific Ocean: resurrection of Sebastes variabilis and a redescription of Sebastes ciliatus", NOAA Fishery Bulletin
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families. Read 2026-08-27, next check 2026-11-27.
Peer reviewed
Orr & Blackburn (2004), resurrection of Sebastes variabilis, NOAA Fishery Bulletin
Used for identification. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-21.
A source with no link predates the rule that one has to carry a URL. It is still a real citation and still checkable; it just takes a search rather than a click, and that is worth knowing before you rely on it.