Sebastidae
Sebastidae is a family of marine fish in the order Scorpaeniformes. Their common names include rockfishes, rock perches, ocean perches, sea perches, thornyheads, scorpionfishes, sea ruffes and rockcods. Despite the latter name, they are not closely related to the cods in the genus Gadus, nor the rock cod, Lotella rhacina.
Not all authorities recognise this family as distinct from Scorpaenidae. FishBase, a finfish database generated by a consortium of academic institutions, does, but the United States Federal government's Integrated Taxonomic Information System does not.
A substantial majority of the approximately 130 species in this family belong to genus Sebastes, including the rose fish. They are found in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. More than 100 of the species are viviparous, and these occur mainly in the North Pacific. All species have venom glands in their dorsal, anal, and pelvic spines.
