sea bass, (family Serranidae), any of the numerous fishes of the family Serranidae (order Perciformes), most of which are marine, found in the shallower regions of warm and tropical seas. The family includes about 475 species, many of them well-known food and sport fishes. Although the term sea bass may be used for the family as a whole, the fishes themselves bear a variety of names, such as hamlet, hind, cony, graysby, grouper, and jewfish, as well as sea bass and bass.
Sea bass are rather perchlike fish. The more or less elongated body has small scales, the mouth is large, and the tail is generally straight-edged or rounded. The dorsal fin, a diagnostic feature, consists of a forward, spiny section and a hinder, soft-rayed section; the two portions are usually joined but may be separated by a notch.
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Sea bass are carnivorous, feeding on fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and other invertebrates. Some are active swimmers; others, such as the groupers, are more sedentary. Certain species, such as the belted sandfish (Serranellus subligarius) of Florida, are hermaphroditic (male and female reproductive organs in one animal). Others, such as the groupers, may mature as one sex and later change to the other.
Sea basses vary widely in size, from a few centimetres to a maximum of 2 metres (6 feet) and 225 kg (500 pounds) in such species as the goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara) and 2.7 metres (9 feet) and 400 kg (900 pounds) in the giant grouper (E. lanceolatus). Colour also varies, both among and within species. Some sea basses, for example, are able to change to any of several colour patterns. In other species the young may be patterned differently from the adults, and in still others individuals inhabiting deeper waters may be considerably redder than those of the same species living near shore.
The family Moronidae, sometimes considered a subfamily of the Serranidae, includes about six species of sea basses found in more northern regions. These fishes, distinguished by two separate dorsal fins that are joined at the base, live in the temperate waters of North America and Europe. A few of these fishes, such as the striped bass (Morone, or Roccus, saxatilis), enter rivers to spawn. The white perch (M. americana, or R. americanus), which also enters fresh water to breed, is in some areas permanently landlocked in certain streams and ponds.
The better-known moronids include the European bass (Morone, or Dicentrarchus, labrax), found from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, often in river mouths; the striped bass, or striper, a renowned American food and sport fish striped with black and growing to about 14 kg (30 pounds); the white bass (M. chrysops), a dark-striped river fish of the eastern United States; and the white perch, a North American Atlantic species reaching a maximum of about 38 cm (15 inches) and 1.4 kg (3 pounds).
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Among the many serranid sea basses valued for food and sport are grouper; the black sea bass (Centropristis striata), a gray, brownish, or blackish species of the western Atlantic; and the graysby (Petrometopon cruentatus), of tropical western Atlantic waters.
This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.
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