Groupers and Sea Basses Codexery

Serranidae

A marine fish family reduced by taxonomic splits.

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They are robust, large-mouthed fish with small spines on the gill coverings and several rows of sharp teeth, often including canine-like fangs.[1] Marine fish belonging to the order Perciformes, the family Serranidae inhabits tropical and subtropical seas across the globe.[2]

Scientific classification

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumChordata
  3. ClassActinopterygii
  4. DivisionTeleostei
  5. OrderPerciformes
  6. FamilySerranidae

Named by Swainson, 1839

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Serranidae (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Quick Facts

Historical species count
about 450
Historical genera count
65
Dorsal fin spines
ten
Anal fin soft rays
seven
Diet
carnivorous
Reproduction
protogynous hermaphrodites

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

The family originally contained about 450 species in 65 genera, but taxonomic revisions have split out groupers, soapfish, and anthias, making the family much less speciose.[2] Historically, the family included three subfamilies: Anthiadinae, Epinephelinae, and Serraninae.[3] A 2007 DNA study by W. L. Smith and M. T. Craig found Serranines and Anthiadines nested with part of Scorpaeniformes, while Epinephelines were outside that clade.[3] Dorsal fins of serranids usually contain ten spines, while their anal fins have seven soft rays, and the fin spines lack serrations.[4]

Differences in the counts of soft rays in the dorsal fin are used to distinguish genera within Serranidae.[4] As carnivores, all serranids eat fish and crustaceans, and they typically lie in wait on reefs to ambush prey.[1] The vivid coloration of serranids probably functions as disruptive camouflage, analogous to a tiger's stripes.[1] Protogynous hermaphroditism is common among serranids: individuals begin life as females and later transform into males.[1]

Eggs are produced in large numbers, and the planktonic larvae drift with ocean currents.[1] According to more recent research, these three clades are still placed within the Percoidei.[5] Epinephelidae, Grammistidae, and Anthiadidae have been raised to family rank by later taxonomists, and within the current definition of Serranidae, the genus Centropristis is the sister group to all other serranids.[5]

What the cited sources add

The "Encyclopedia of Fishes" also states all serranids are carnivorous ambush predators that hide on reefs, and their bright colors are likely disruptive camouflage.[1][6] That source further reports many species are protogynous hermaphrodites that produce large quantities of planktonic eggs.[1][6] "Fishes of the World" (2016) documents the historical three-subfamily classification of Serranidae.[3][7]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Serranidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Randall, John E., "Encyclopedia of Fishes", Academic Press, 1998, p. 195–199 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Serranidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Serranidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Fishes of the World", Wiley, 2016, p. 446–448; "Anthiadinae Poey, 1861"; "Epinephelinae Bleeker, 1874"; "Serraninae Swainson, 1839"; Wm. Leo Smith, "Casting the Percomorph Net Widely: The Importance of Broad Taxonomic Sampling in the Search for the Placement of Serranid and Percid Fishes", Copeia, February 2007, p. 35 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Serranidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Serraninae", Atlas of Living Australia (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Serranidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: White, "Odontanthias randalli n. sp., a new anthiine fish (Serranidae: Anthiinae) from Indonesia", Zootaxa, September 2011, p. 21–28; "Pseudanthias hangapiko, a new anthiadine serranid (Teleostei, Serranidae, Anthiadinae) from Rapa Nui (Easter Island)", ZooKeys, 3 August 2021, p. 1–13; Near, "Phylogenetic Classification of Living and Fossil Ray-Finned Fishes (Actinopterygii)", Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, 2024-04-18; Dornburg, "The Emerging Phylogenetic Perspective on the Evolution of Actinopterygian Fishes", Annual Rev en.wikipedia.org
  6. Open Library record, ISBN 0125476655 ("Encyclopedia of fishes"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
  7. Open Library record, ISBN 9781118342336 ("Fishes of the World"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Serranidae (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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