Body length up to 97 cm, weight up to 6.7 kg [2] [3] . The maximum recorded age is 205 years [4] .
The body is massive. The head is large with many ridges and spikes. A distinctive feature is the presence of 2-10 sharp spines on the lower edge of the orbit of the eye. At the end of the forward forward jaw, a symphysial tubercle pointing downward is located. The branchial stamens are long and thin; on the first branchial arch, there are 31–34 stamens [1] [5] .
The dorsal fin is long with 13 spiny and 13-14 soft branched rays. There are 3 prickly and 6-7 soft rays in the anal fin. Caudal fin with a small notch [1] .
The color is dirty red with dark stains on the head and upper body. The belly is pink. A bright red stripe runs along the side line. Fins of red color with a black border. On the gill cover 2-3 dark spots of an angular shape. The juveniles are colored paler.
North Pacific . Distributed along the Pacific coast from Honshu and the southern Kuril Islands to the Navarino Rise in the Bering Sea , it is numerous at the Aleutian Islands and in the Gulf of Alaska ; further south reaches California . It is absent in the Sea of Japan and Okhotsk [1] .
Sea fish. They live near the bottom over rocky soils covered with a soft substrate. They are found at a depth of 25 to 2830 m, but usually at depths of 150-450 m at a temperature of −0.3 ... + 5 ° C [6] . Larger fish prefer greater depths.
Nutrition
Adult individuals feed mainly on mesopelagic fish ( luminous anchovies , silverfish ), squids and crabs , as well as small bottom and bottom crustaceans ( amphipods , shrimps , hermit crabs ), and worms [5] .
Reproduction
Viviparous fish with internal fertilization. Mating occurs in the fall. Sperm is stored inside the female for several months until the eggs are fertilized. Hatching takes place inside the female; larvae moulder in February – July. Large females can spawn up to 2.7 million larvae with a size of 4.1-5.9 mm. The first months of life live in the water column, then move on to a near-bottom lifestyle [1] [5] .
Specialized fishing is not conducted. Caught in the form of by- catch in the trawl, longline and net fishing of other deep-sea fish ( shiposhcheki and halibut ) [1] [5] . The meat of Aleutian sea bass has high palatability, it is in high demand in the Asian market, especially in Japan, where sushi and sashimi are prepared from it. It enters the market in frozen form (without a head) and chilled (whole). According to recorded trawl surveys, in the 1990s the mass of catches of this species in Alaska Bay was 143, and in the Aleutian Islands - 341 kg per square meter. km, and the total biomass of 64.9 and 20.6 thousand tons, respectively. Biomass in the western part of the Bering Sea does not exceed 0.2 thousand tons. Due to overfishing, the abundance of Aleutian sea bass in the Kamchatka waters has now decreased [5] . The International Union for Conservation of Nature has not yet evaluated the conservation status of this species.
