Serraninae.—Percichthys, Percilia, Lateolabrax, Niphon, Morone, Percalates, Ctenolates, Macquaria, Siniperca, Coreoperca, Acanthistius, Trachypoma, Centrogenys, Polyprion, Oligorus, Stereolepis, Dinoperca, Liopropoma, Aulacocephalus, Plectropoma, Epinephelus, Cromileptes, Paranthias, Serranus, Centropristes, Chelidoperca, Gilbertia, Caesioperca, Caprodon, Anthias, Callanthias, Pseudoplesiops, Plesiops, Trachinops.
Grammistinae.—Grammistes, Rhypticus. Priacanthinae.—Priacanthus, Pseudopriacanthus. Centropominae.—Lates, Psammoperca, Centropomus. Pomatominae.—Pomatomus, Scombrops. Ambassinae.—Ambassis. Chilodipterinae.—Chilodipterus, Apogon. Lutjaninae.—Lutjanus, Glaucosoma, Therapon, Hoplopagrus, Etelis, Aprion, Aphareus, Odontonectes. Cirrhitinae.—Cirrhites, Cirrhitichthys. Pentacerotinae.—Pentaceros, Pentaceropsis, Histiopterus.
The number of recent species amounts to about 550, the great majority of which are marine.
Fig. 403.—Sea Perch (Serranus cabrilla). × ⅓. (After Cuvier and Valenciennes.)
The earliest fossil form is Prolates, from the Upper Cretaceous of France. Morone, Serranus, Percichthys, Anthias, and Apogon are represented in Eocene and later strata.
The range of the family is almost cosmopolitan; few of the Marine Perches descend to any great depth. Some of the species of Stereolepis and Epinephelus grow to a length of 6 to 10 feet. Several species of Serranus (S. cabrilla, S. scriba, S. hepatus), inhabiting the Mediterranean and neighbouring parts of the Atlantic, and some Lutjanus are normally hermaphrodite. Some Chilodipterus and Apogon are remarkable for their nursing habits, the male sheltering the eggs in his mouth.
The curious genera Anomalops and Photoblepharon, of each of which a single species is known from the Malay Archipelago and the South Pacific, have been made the types of a family, Anomalopidae, the systematic position of which remains uncertain since the osteological characters have not been examined. They are remarkable for the movable flap below the eye, bearing a luminous organ, the nature of which has recently been investigated by Max Weber.[[714]]
Fam. 12. Pseudochromididae.—Closely allied to the Serranidae, and connected with them through Plesiops and its allies. Dorsal and anal fins elongate and formed mostly of articulated soft rays, the spines being feeble and few.
A. With two lateral lines: Pseudochromis, Cichlops.