Paralabrax clathratus
Kelp Bass
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
There are no photos available for this taxon yet.
Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Serranidae (Sea Basses and Groupers)
Paralabrax
Paralabrax clathratus (Kelp Bass)
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
Learn more about our species accounts.
Characters
Body shape: fusiform / normal.
Distribution
Eastern Pacific: Columbia River in Washington, USA to southern Baja California, Mexico.
Habitat Associations
Marine. benthopelagic. depth range 1-61 m. Found in: seagrass beds.
Biology
Usually found in or near kelp beds, shallow water and to about 50 m but mostly from 2.4-21m . Found throughout water column. Large specimens usually occur in deeper water. Juveniles feed on benthic invertebrates (especially crustaceans); adults feed on fishes and cephalopods (Ref.9342). Both juveniles and adults may feed on plankton when abundant (Ref.9342). Pelagic spawners (Ref. 56049). Also caught with troll lines (Ref. 9342). Excellent food fish and an important game fish (Ref. 9342).
Max length: 72.0 cm TL; max weight: 7000 g; max age: 34 years.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; mating system: promiscuity; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. Pelagic spawner (Ref. 56049). Spawning aggregations are a significant component of the reproductive behavior of this species (Ref. 59326). Also Ref. 103751.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2008-05-01. Resilience: Low (K=0.10; tm=2.5; tmax=34).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; gamefish.
References
Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald and H. Hammann (1983) A field guide to Pacific coast fishes of North America. Boston (MA, USA): Houghton Mifflin Company. xii+336 p.
Fitch, J.E. (1974) Offshore fishes of California. Department of Fish and Game, Sacramento, California. 80 p.
Love, M.S. and A.W. Ebeling (1978) Food and habitat of three switch-feeding fishes in the kelp forests off Santa Barbara, California. Fish. Bull. 76(1):257-271.
Erisman, B.E. and L.G. Allen (2006) Reproductive behaviour of a temperate serranid fish, Paralabrax clathratus (Girard), from Santa Catalina Island, California, USA. J. Fish Biol. 68(1):157-184.
Love, M.S., C.W. Mecklenburg, T.A. Mecklenburg and L.K. Thorsteinson (2005) Resource inventory of marine and estuarine fishes of the West Coast and Alaska: A checklist of North Pacific and Arctic Ocean species from Baja California to the Alaska-Yukon border. U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Seattle, Washington, 98104.
Comments On Paralabrax clathratus