Serranidae

{{short description|Family of fishes}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = | image = Serranus cabrilla 451099998.jpg | image_caption = ''Serranus cabrilla'', the comber | taxon = Serranidae | authority = Swainson, 1839<ref name = VDLEF>{{cite journal | author1 = Richard van der Laan | author2 = William N. Eschmeyer | author3 = Ronald Fricke | name-list-style = amp |year=2014 | title = Family-group names of Recent fishes | url = https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.3882.1.1/10480 | journal = Zootaxa | volume = 3882 | issue =2 | pages = 001–230| doi = 10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1 | pmid = 25543675 | doi-access = free }}</ref> | synonyms = Serraninae Swainson, 1839 | synonyms_ref = <ref name="WoRMS2025"/> }} '''Serranidae''' is a family of marine fish belonging to the order Perciformes. The family used to contain about 450 species in 65 genera, including some of the sea basses and groupers, but taxonomic revisions split out Epinephelinae (groupers), Grammistini (soapfish), and Anthiadinae (anthias); as a consequence, this family is now much less speciose.<ref name="CofFF" /> Representatives of this group live in tropical and subtropical seas worldwide.

==Characteristics== Serranids are generally robust in form, with large mouths and small spines on the gill coverings. They typically have several rows of sharp teeth, usually with a pair of particularly large, canine-like fangs projecting from the lower jaw.<ref name=EoF>{{cite book |editor=Paxton, J.R. |editor2=Eschmeyer, W.N.|author= Randall, John E.|year=1998|title=Encyclopedia of Fishes|publisher= Academic Press|location=San Diego|pages= 195–199|isbn= 0-12-547665-5}}</ref> Many serranid species are brightly colored.

They generally have ten spines in their dorsal fins and seven soft rays in their anal fins. They are also characterised by the fin spines being unserrated. The genera within the Serranidae are separated by the meristics of the soft rays in the dorsal fin.<ref name="ala">{{cite web |title=Serraninae |url=https://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:c8423fd4-b7a6-43f9-bcf5-849d19d3ade0 |access-date=30 August 2020 |publisher=Atlas of Living Australia}}</ref>

All serranids are carnivorous, feeding on other fish and crustaceans. They are typically ambush predators, hiding in cover on the reef and darting out to grab passing prey. Their bright colours are most likely a form of disruptive camouflage, similar to the stripes of a tiger.<ref name=EoF/>

Many species are protogynous hermaphrodites, meaning they start out as females and change sex to male later in life.<ref name=EoF/> They produce large quantities of eggs and their larvae are planktonic, generally at the mercy of ocean currents until they are ready to settle into adult populations.

==Classification== [[File:Paralabrax clathratus.jpg|thumb|Kelp bass (''Paralabrax clathratus'')]] [[File:Indigo Hamlet.JPG|thumb|Indigo hamlet (''Hypoplectrus indigo'')]] In past taxonomic treatments,<ref name="Nelson5">{{cite book |author1=J. S. Nelson |url=https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |title=Fishes of the World |author2=T. C. Grande |author3=M. V. H. Wilson |publisher=Wiley |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-118-34233-6 |edition=5th |pages=446–448 |access-date=8 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408194051/https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |archive-date=8 April 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref> this family had long encompassed three subfamilies: Anthiadinae,<ref>{{Cite WoRMS|title=Anthiadinae Poey, 1861|id=1061345|access-date=2025-07-27|db=FishBase}}</ref> Epinephelinae,<ref>{{Cite WoRMS|title=Epinephelinae Bleeker, 1874|id=151758|access-date=2025-07-27}}</ref> and Serraninae.<ref>{{Cite WoRMS|title=Serraninae Swainson, 1839|id=151756|access-date=2025-07-27}}</ref> A 2007 study of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA by W. L. Smith and M. T. Craig recovered a different arrangement, where Serranines and Anthiadines nested with part of Scorpaeniformes such as ''Ablabys'' and ''Hoplichthys'', while Epinephelines were outside the larger group (clade) containing Serranines and Anthiadines.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wm. Leo Smith |last2=Matthew Thomas Craig |title=Casting the Percomorph Net Widely: The Importance of Broad Taxonomic Sampling in the Search for the Placement of Serranid and Percid Fishes |journal=Copeia |date=February 2007 |volume=1 |page=35 |doi=10.1643/0045-8511(2007)7[35:CTPNWT]2.0.CO;2}}</ref>

More recent studies have retained these three clades within the Percoidei instead of with scorpaenoids. Although later studies continued using the three subfamily system,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=White |first1=William Toby |title=Odontanthias randalli n. sp., a new anthiine fish (Serranidae: Anthiinae) from Indonesia |journal=Zootaxa |date=September 2011 |volume=3015 |pages=21–28 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.3015.1.3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title= Pseudanthias hangapiko, a new anthiadine serranid (Teleostei, Serranidae, Anthiadinae) from Rapa Nui (Easter Island)|author1=Bart Shepherd|author2=Hudson T. Pinheiro|author3=Tyler A. Y. Phelps|author4=Alejandro Pérez-Matus|author5=Luiz A. Rocha|journal=ZooKeys |date=3 August 2021 |issue=1054 |pages=1–13 |doi=10.3897/zookeys.1054.64508 |pmid=34393560 |pmc=8355001 |bibcode=2021ZooK.1054....1S |doi-access=free }}</ref> more recent studies have split them into their own families based on phylogenetic evidence.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Near |first=Thomas J. |last2=Thacker |first2=Christine E. |date=2024-04-18 |title=Phylogenetic Classification of Living and Fossil Ray-Finned Fishes (Actinopterygii) |url=https://bioone.org/journals/bulletin-of-the-peabody-museum-of-natural-history/volume-65/issue-1/014.065.0101/Phylogenetic-Classification-of-Living-and-Fossil-Ray-Finned-Fishes-Actinopterygii/10.3374/014.065.0101.full |journal=Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History |volume=65 |issue=1 |doi=10.3374/014.065.0101 |issn=0079-032X|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dornburg |first=Alex |last2=Near |first2=Thomas J. |date=2021-11-03 |title=The Emerging Phylogenetic Perspective on the Evolution of Actinopterygian Fishes |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-122120-122554 |journal=Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics |language=en |volume=52 |issue= |pages=427–452 |doi=10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-122120-122554 |issn=1543-592X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The elevation of Epinephelidae, Grammistidae, and Anthiadidae into their own distinct families was eventually accepted by multiple taxonomic authorities, such as the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS),<ref name="WoRMS2025">{{Cite WoRMS|title=Serranidae Swainson, 1839|id=125561|access-date=2025-07-27|db=FishBase}}</ref> ''Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes'' (ECoF),<ref name="EcOF2025">{{cite web |title=Genera in the family or subfamily Serranidae: [ 29 ] records |url=https://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/fishcatget.asp?tbl=genus&family=Serranidae |website=researcharchive.calacademy.org |publisher=Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes |access-date=27 July 2025}}</ref> and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.iucnredlist.org/search?taxonomies=100500&searchType=species | title=IUCN red list taxonomies.}}</ref> This family is sister to the other two former subfamilies within the Serranidae, with the genus ''Centropristis'' being sister to all other serranids as presently defined.<ref name="Pondella">{{cite journal |author1=Daniel J. Pondella II |author2=Matthew T. Craig |author3=Jens P.C. Franck |name-list-style=amp |year=2003 |title=The phylogeny of ''Paralabrax'' (Perciformes: Serranidae) and allied taxa inferred from partial 16S and 12S mitochondrial ribosomal DNA sequences |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=176–184 |bibcode=2003MolPE..29..176P |citeseerx=10.1.1.1053.3496 |doi=10.1016/S1055-7903(03)00078-2 |pmid=12967618}}</ref>

=== Genera === The following selected genera are considered part of Serranidae in ''Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes'', except where noted:<ref name="CofFF">{{Cof family|family=Serranidae|access-date=28 July 2025}}</ref> {{Div col|colwidth=16em}} * ''Bullisichthys'' Rivas, 1971 * ''Centropristis'' Cuvier, 1829 * ''Chelidoperca'' Boulenger, 1895 * ''Cratinus'' Steindachner, 1878 * ''Diplectrum'' Holbrook, 1855 * ''Dules'' Cuvier, 1829 * ''Hypoplectrus'' Gill, 1861 * ''Paralabrax'' Girard, 1856 * ''Parasphyraenops'' T.H. Bean, 1912 * ''Pyronotanthias'' Gill, 2022<ref name="WoRMS">{{cite WoRMS |title=Pyronotanthias |id=1803575 |accessdate=22 May 2026}}</ref> * ''Schultzea'' Woods, 1958 * ''Serraniculus'' Ginsburg, 1952 * ''Serranus'' Cuvier, 1816 {{div col end}} The fossil genus ''Paleoserranus'' was formerly placed in the former, more expansive version of this family.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Cantalice |first=Kleyton M. |last2=Alvarado-Ortega |first2=Jesús |last3=Alaniz-Galvan |first3=Abril |date=2018-04-01 |title=Paleoserranus lakamhae gen. et sp. nov., a Paleocene seabass (Perciformes: Serranidae) from Palenque, Chiapas, southeastern Mexico |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S089598111730487X |journal=Journal of South American Earth Sciences |volume=83 |pages=137–146 |doi=10.1016/j.jsames.2018.01.010 |issn=0895-9811 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> More recent studies have, however, suggested it to be a basal perciform.<ref name=":0" />

==References== * {{FishBase family | family = Serranidae | month = October | year = 2016 }} * {{cite journal | last = Sepkoski | first = Jack | title = A compendium of fossil marine animal genera | journal = Bulletins of American Paleontology | volume = 364 |page=560 | year = 2002 | url = http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class | access-date = 2011-05-19 }} {{Reflist|2}}

Category:Serranidae Category:Marine fish families Category:Taxa named by William Swainson