Diagnosis:
In British Columbia there are two genera in this family: Sebastolobus (two species) and Sebastes (approximately 35 species). The following species are not included here; Sebastes aleutianus (Rougheye Rockfish), Sebastes alutus (Pacific Ocean Perch), Sebastes aurora (Aurora Rockfish), Sebastes babcocki (Redbanded Rockfish), Sebastes ciliatus (Dusky Rockfish), Sebastes crameri (Darkblotched Rockfish), Sebastes diploproa (Splitnose Rockfish), Sebastes elongatus (Greenstriped Rockfish), Sebastes emphaeus (Puget Sound Rockfish), Sebastes entomelas (Widow Rockfish), Sebastes goodie (Chilipepper Rockfish), Sebastes helvomaculatus (Rosethoorn Rockfish), Sebastes jordani (Shortbelly Rockfish), Sebastes miniatus (Vermilion Rockfish), Sebastes mystinus (Blue Rockfish), Sebastes nebulosus (China Rockfish), Sebastes reedi (Yellowmouth Rockfish), Sebastes ruberrimus (Yelloweye Rockfish), Sebastes saxicola (Stripetail Rockfish), Sebastes variegates (Harlequin Rockfish), Sebastes wilsoni (Pygmy Rockfish), Sebastes zacentrus (Sharpchin Rockfish) Sebastolobus alascanus (Shortspine Thornyhead), and Sebastolobus altivelis (Longspine Thornyhead).
Remarks: based on available species it seems that it is difficult to use scale morphology (including meristic measurements) to identify Sebastes to the species level. The scales across species are essentially the same (no distinguishing characteristics), and size is not a desirable characteristic since many of the species overlap in size. Size can be used to suggest a species (or a number of them), but with only a small degree of confidence. At this time, we do not have any Sebastolobus for comparison to Sebastes so we are not able to make any conclusions about identification of scales to species level within that genus.