What is the meaning of "pelagic"?

[GregAndrew]

Originally Posted by Zed

In school, yellows were "in-shore pelagic" which is as descriptive as "jack mackerel". WSB were not considered pelagic. Tunas marlin swords dorado hoo --fish that are rarely if ever associated w land-- were labeled pelagic.

As long as its spelled out in the regs I dont care what theyre labeled as anymore. A sculpin isnt a sculpin, a wsb isnt a seabass and rock cod and ling cod arent cods. So just rely on dfgs interpretation of the language bite your tongue and fish.

Could not agree more with the last sentence. Not only that, but you have to know which way the DFG wind is blowing at the moment (because their interpretations will vary). Why WSB would not be considered Pelagic is interesting. As far as I know, there are only 2 other basic habitats, Demersal and Reef. Reef does not seem to fit, since they travel to different areas of structure and will follow schools of bait away from structure. I guess Demersal could fit, depending on how close is "close" to the bottom? The problem is that "Coastal Pelagics" are found in all the same areas? I think I will just call them a Demagic fish.