shy hamlet

Open encyclopedia reference

The shy hamlet (Hypoplectrus guttavarius) is a small Western Atlantic serranid fish, which belongs to the subclass perciformes in the class Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes). To this date, seventeen species of the genus Hypoplectrus have been recognized, a third of which have been discovered in the past few years. They are synchronous hermaphrodites; ecologically and morphologically, all are remarkably similar in major features except for their color pattern which is how they are differentiated into different species. The name is derived from its personality because they are a solitary species that travel in pairs. They are mostly found in the Western Atlantic Ocean on Caribbean inshore areas in low depths (3–30 m or 10–100 ft) and in temperatures of about 22–27 °C (72–81 °F). Their habitat is rocks and corals. Hamlets are small and bright colored, specifically, shy hamlets have a yellow head and fins followed by a brown-black body. In addition, there are bright blue stripes around the eye and on the snout. They are carnivores and mostly feed on crustaceans such as shrimp, clam, squid etc.

Wikipedia contributors, Shy hamlet; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:53:41.921696+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Hypoplectrus guttavarius (Poey, 1852)

Name authority

(Poey, 1852)

Common name

shy hamlet

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Perciformes

Family

Serranidae

Genus

Hypoplectrus

Extinction status

Not supplied by this source

Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. gigaclassActinopterygii
8. superclassActinopteri
9. classTeleostei
10. orderPerciformes
11. suborderPercoidei
12. familySerranidae Swainson, 1839
13. genusHypoplectrus Gill, 1861
14. speciesHypoplectrus guttavarius (Poey, 1852)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Hypoplectrus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 89 records assigned to Serranidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=281116 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:3NXWX. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.