Paranthias

Paranthias
Paranthias furcifer
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Epinephelidae
Genus:	Paranthias Guichenot, 1868 [1]
Type species
Serranus furcifer Valenciennes, 1828 [1]
Species
See text.
Synonyms [2]
Brachyrhinus Gill, 1863 Creolus Jordan & Gilbert, 1883

Paranthias is a genus of marine ray-finned fish which are commonly referred to as creolefish. They are groupers from the family Epinephelidae which are found in the Atlantic Ocean and the eastern Pacific Ocean. Unlike other groupers, they are filter feeders like the distantly related "true" anthias.

Taxonomy

The genus Paranthias was created in 1863 by the American ichthyologist Theodore Nicholas Gill (1837–1914) as a monotypic genus; it contained only the type species Serranus furcifer. ^[1] The Pacific creole-fish was considered conspecific with the creolefish^{[ by whom? ]} until it was accepted as a distinct species. ^[2] The name is a combination of para- (near/resembling) and anthias , alluding to their superficial resemblance to Anthiadines such as Anthias . ^[3]

Groupers were formerly considered part of the family Serranidae as the subfamily Ephinephelinae; this family formerly included the "true" anthias as well, but after Serranidae was revised and split, Paranthias and other groupers are now considered distinct from the true anthias. ^{[4] [5]} The elevation of Epinephelidae and Anthiadidae into their own distinct families was eventually accepted by multiple taxonomic authorities, such as the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), ^[6] Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (ECoF), ^[7] and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. ^[8]

The genus contains the following species: ^[9]

• Paranthias colonus (Valenciennes, 1846) (Pacific creole-fish)
• Paranthias furcifer (Valenciennes, 1828) (Creole-fish)

Some taxonomic resources consider Paranthias to be a junior synonym of Cephalopholis , ^{[10] [11]} as suggested by phylogenetic analyses using molecular data, ^[12] as well as the intermediate form known as "Menephorus" known from the Carribean, ^[13] which has been proven to be a hybrid between Paranthias furcifer and Cephalopholis fulva . ^{[14] [15] [3]}

Characteristics

Creolefish are unique among the typically macropredatory groupers in that they have a relatively small mouth, their upper jaws are more protrusible than that of other groupers, with small teeth and many elongated gill rakers, and a fusiform body which ends in a deeply forked caudal fin. These departures from the typical morphology of groupers are adaptations for feeding on zooplankton in open water, which converge on the niche of true anthias.^{[ citation needed ]}Paranthias are visual hunters, having a relatively short snout which allows them to employ binocular vision to pick off zooplankton from the middle of the water column. They are social fish which are normally seen in diurnal feeding aggregations, diving to shelter in the reef when threatened. ^[2] They reach a maximum total length of 30–36 centimetres (12–14 in). ^[9]

Distribution

The two species in the genus Paranthias each occur in different oceans, the creole-fish (P. furcifer) is found mainly in the warmer waters of the western Atlantic Ocean but its range extends to Ascension Island and the islands in the Gulf of Guinea in the eastern Atlantic. The Pacific creole-fish occurs in the tropical and subtropical eastern Pacific Ocean. ^[2]

References

1. Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Paranthias". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 29 July 2020.
2. Heemstra, P.C. & J.E. Randall (1993). FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 16. Groupers of the world (family Serranidae, subfamily Epinephelinae). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the grouper, rockcod, hind, coral grouper and lyretail species known to date (PDF). FAO Fish. Synopsis. Vol. 125. FAO, Rome. pp. 281–282. ISBN   92-5-103125-8.
3. Smith, C. Lavett (19 December 1966). "Menephorus Poey, a serranid genus based on two hybrids of Cephalopholis fulva and Paranthias furcifer, with comments on the systematic placement of Paranthias". American Museum Novitates. 2276. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
4. Near, Thomas J.; Thacker, Christine E. (2024-04-18). "Phylogenetic Classification of Living and Fossil Ray-Finned Fishes (Actinopterygii)" . Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 65 (1). doi:10.3374/014.065.0101. ISSN   0079-032X.
5. Dornburg, Alex; Near, Thomas J. (2021-11-03). "The Emerging Phylogenetic Perspective on the Evolution of Actinopterygian Fishes" . Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. 52: 427–452. doi:10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-122120-122554. ISSN   1543-592X.
6. Bailly N (ed.). "Serranidae Swainson, 1839". FishBase . World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 2025-07-27.
7. "Genera in the family or subfamily Serranidae: [ 29 ] records". researcharchive.calacademy.org. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
8. "IUCN red list taxonomies".
9. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Paranthias". FishBase . December 2019 version.
10. Bailly N (ed.). "Paranthias colonus (Valenciennes, 1846)". FishBase . World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 2025-11-18.
11. Scharpf, Christopher. "Order PERCIFORMES (part 5): Suborder SERRANOIDEI: Families EPINEPHELIDAE, LIOPROPOMATIDAE and GRAMMISTIDAE". etyfish.org. ETYFish. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
12. Craig, M.T.; Hastings, P.A. (2007). "A molecular phylogeny of the groupers of the subfamily Epinephelinae (Serranidae) with revised classification of the epinephelini". Ichthyol. Res. 54: 1–17. doi:10.1007/s10228-006-0367-x.
13. Rowlett, Joe. ""Menephorus", A Rarely Seen Caribbean Fish". reefs.com. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
14. "An Inconvenient Monophyly: An Update on the Taxonomy of the Groupers (Epinephelidae)". Copeia. 106 (3): 443–456. September 2018. doi:10.1643/CI-18-055.
15. "Hybridization between two serranids, the coney (Cephalopholis fulva) and the creole-fish (Paranthias furcifer), at Bermuda". Fishery Bulletin. 2002. Retrieved 18 November 2025.