Sea bass live in different habitats at different life stages. Very young sea bass from 2-4 inches live in drift algae just behind the surf line. Older juveniles occupy bays and shallow coastal waters, often near rocks or kelp. Adults are usually found near reefs or kelp beds. Very young sea bass up to a few inches long are usually brown or golden, but can be silvery.
Adults are gray- blue, bronze or almost yellow.
Big sea bass can get 5 feet long and weigh 50 pounds. Sometimes you can catch all short fish to 15 inches and sometimes catch a bunch from 10 pounds to 50 pounds. It's not unusual to catch 30 pounders. The California record fish weighed 77.4 pounds. Sea bass are very important to commercial fishermen and fish restaurants all over California use sea bass on their menus.