quillback rockfish
Sebastes maliger (Jordan & Gilbert, 1880)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Quillback rockfish (Sebastes maliger) at 30 meters depth. California, Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary.
Michael Carver/CBNMS. · Public domain · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The quillback rockfish (Sebastes maliger), also known as the quillback seaperch, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae, the rockfishes, part of the family Scorpaenidae. This species primarily dwells in salt water reefs. The average adult weighs 2–7 pounds (0.9 – 3 kg) and may reach 1 m (3 feet) in length. Quillback rockfish are named for the sharp, venomous quills or spines on the dorsal fin. Their mottled orange-brown coloring allows them to blend in with rocky bottom reefs. The quillback rockfish eats mainly crustaceans, but will also eat herring. They are solitary and minimally migratory, but not territorial, and give birth to live young (viviparous). They are a popular sport fish, generally caught in cold water 41–60 m deep, but also to subtidal depths of 275 m.
Wikipedia contributors, Quillback rockfish; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:30:54.661035+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Sebastes maliger (Jordan & Gilbert, 1880)
- Name authority
- (Jordan & Gilbert, 1880)
- Common name
- quillback rockfish
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Perciformes
- Family
- Sebastidae
- Genus
- Sebastes
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderPerciformes
- suborderScorpaenoidei
- familySebastidae Kaup, 1873
- subfamilySebastinae Kaup, 1873
- genusSebastes Cuvier, 1829
- speciesSebastes maliger (Jordan & Gilbert, 1880)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Sebastes. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| rougheye rockfishSebastes aleutianus (Jordan & Evermann, 1898) | SebastidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| brown rockfishSebastes auriculatus Girard, 1854 | SebastidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| aurora rockfishSebastes aurora (Gilbert, 1890) | SebastidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| redbanded rockfishSebastes babcocki (Thompson, 1915) | SebastidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Brickred rockfishSebastes baramenuke (Wakiya, 1917) | SebastidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| copper rockfishSebastes caurinus Richardson, 1844 | SebastidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| black-and-yellow rockfishSebastes chrysomelas (Jordan & Gilbert, 1881) | SebastidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| dusky rockfishSebastes ciliatus (Tilesius, 1813) | SebastidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| calico rockfishSebastes dallii (Eigenmann & Beeson, 1894) | SebastidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Sebastes diaconus Frable, Wagman, Frierson, Aguilar & Sidlauskas, 2015 | SebastidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| splitnose rockfishSebastes diploproa (Gilbert, 1890) | SebastidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| puget sound rockfishSebastes emphaeus (Starks, 1911) | SebastidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Sebastichthys maliger Jordan & Gilbert, 1880 Jordan & Gilbert, 1880 | synonym |
| Sebastes (Pteropodus) maliger (Jordan & Gilbert, 1880) (Jordan & Gilbert, 1880) | synonym |
| Sebastodes maliger (Jordan & Gilbert, 1880) (Jordan & Gilbert, 1880) | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=274815 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4W7N5. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.