yelloweye rockfish
Sebastes ruberrimus (Cramer, 1895)
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.

Yelloweye rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus) is a species in a common genus of Pacific rockfish. Credit: OAR/National Undersea Research Program (NURP); Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game
V. O'Connell, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Image ID: nur00516 · Public domain · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The yelloweye rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus) is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae, the rockfishes, part of the family Scorpaenidae and one of the biggest members of the genus Sebastes. Its name derives from its coloration. It is also locally known as "red snapper," not to be confused with the warm-water Atlantic species Lutjanus campechanus that formally carries the name red snapper. The yelloweye is one of the world's longest-lived fish species, and is cited to live to a maximum of 114 to 120 years of age. As they grow older, they change in color, from reddish in youth, to bright orange in adulthood, to pale yellow in old age. Yelloweye live in rocky areas and feed on small fish and other rockfish. They reside in the East Pacific and range from Baja California to Dutch Harbor in Alaska.
Wikipedia contributors, Yelloweye rockfish; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:35:10.627367+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Sebastes ruberrimus (Cramer, 1895)
- Name authority
- (Cramer, 1895)
- Common name
- yelloweye 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 ruberrimus (Cramer, 1895)
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 |
|---|---|
| Sebastes ruber Ayres, 1854 Ayres, 1854 | synonym |
| Sebastodes ruberrimus (Cramer, 1895) (Cramer, 1895) | synonym |
| Sebastolobus ruberrimus Cramer, 1895 Cramer, 1895 | synonym |
| Sebastes (Sebastopyr) ruberrimus (Cramer, 1895) (Cramer, 1895) | 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=274844 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:4W7PQ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.