northern kingcroaker
Menticirrhus saxatilis (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Menticirrhus saxatilis, the northern kingfish or northern kingcroaker, is a species of marine fish in the family Sciaenidae (commonly known as the "drum" or "croaker" family). It lives in the shallow coastal waters of the western Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.
Wikipedia contributors, Menticirrhus saxatilis; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:47:07.132323+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Menticirrhus saxatilis (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
- Name authority
- (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
- Common name
- northern kingcroaker
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Family
- Sciaenidae
- Genus
- Menticirrhus
- 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- familySciaenidae Cuvier, 1829
- genusMenticirrhus Gill, 1861
- speciesMenticirrhus saxatilis (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Menticirrhus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Menticirrhus ophicephalus (Jenyns, 1840) | SciaenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| California corbinaMenticirrhus undulatus (Girard, 1854) | SciaenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| southern kingcroakerMenticirrhus americanus (Linnaeus, 1758) | SciaenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gulf kingcroakerMenticirrhus littoralis (Holbrook, 1847) | SciaenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Menticirrhus cuiaranensis Marceniuk, Caires, Rotundo, Cerqueira, Siccha-Ramirez, Wosiacki & Oliveira, 2020 | SciaenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| highfin kingfishMenticirrhus nasus (Günther, 1868) | SciaenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Paita kingfishMenticirrhus paitensis Hildebrand, 1946 | SciaenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Panama kingfishMenticirrhus panamensis (Steindachner, 1876) | SciaenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Johnius saxatilis Bloch & Schneider, 1801 Bloch & Schneider, 1801 | synonym |
| Sciaena nebulosa Mitchill, 1815 Mitchill, 1815 | ambiguous synonym |
| Menticirrhus focaliger Ginsburg, 1952 Ginsburg, 1952 | synonym |
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.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=159329 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:3ZSF8. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.