Sebastes moseri (Scorpaeniformes: Scorpaenidae):: A new rockfish from the eastern North Pacific

A single specimen of Sebastes collected in 1995 off San Diego, California, has a combination of morphological characters unique among eastern North Pacific rock-fishes. Comparison of partial cytochrome b gene sequences of this specimen and 52 described species of Sebastes (part of an unpublished dataset to elucidate phylogenetic relationships) suggests that the specimen is not a hybrid or morphological variant of these species. A new species, Sebastes moseri (suggested common name "whitespeckled rockfish"), is described. Particularly distinctive are numerous, small white spots covering most of the body (which disappear with preservation), similar to those observed in S. constellatus but without the larger white regions between the dorsal fin and lateral line observed in that species. A preliminary phylogenetic analysis of our DNA sequence data suggests that S. moseri is most closely related to S. rufus.