finescale rockfish
Mycteroperca microlepis (Goode & Bean, 1879)
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
The gag grouper (Mycteroperca microlepis), also known as velvet rockfish, the gag, or charcoal belly, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grouper from the subfamily Epinephelinae which is part of the family Serranidae, which also includes the anthias and sea basses. It comes from warmer parts of the West Atlantic, including the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. It is a drab, mottled-gray fish lacking the distinguishing features of most other groupers. Its pattern of markings resemble the box-shaped spots of the black grouper (Mycteroperca bonaci). It lacks the streamer-points on the tail fin that scamp (M. phenax) and yellowmouth grouper (M. interstitialis) have and lacks yellow coloration around the mouth.
Wikipedia contributors, Mycteroperca microlepis; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:26:06.285717+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Mycteroperca microlepis (Goode & Bean, 1879)
- Name authority
- (Goode & Bean, 1879)
- Common name
- finescale rockfish
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Perciformes
- Family
- Epinephelidae
- Genus
- Mycteroperca
- 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
- orderPerciformes
- suborderPercoidei
- familyEpinephelidae Bleeker, 1874
- genusMycteroperca Gill, 1862
- speciesMycteroperca microlepis (Goode & Bean, 1879)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Mycteroperca. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| western comb grouperMycteroperca acutirostris (Valenciennes, 1828) | EpinephelidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mycteroperca fusca (Lowe, 1838) | EpinephelidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| monkeyMycteroperca interstitialis (Poey, 1860) | EpinephelidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gulf grouperMycteroperca jordani (Jenkins & Evermann, 1889) | EpinephelidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mycteroperca olfax (Jenyns, 1840) | EpinephelidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| sawtail grouperMycteroperca prionura Rosenblatt & Zahuranec, 1967 | EpinephelidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| gag rockfishMycteroperca tigris (Valenciennes, 1833) | EpinephelidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| princess rockfishMycteroperca venenosa (Linnaeus, 1758) | EpinephelidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| broomtail grouperMycteroperca xenarcha Jordan, 1888 | EpinephelidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| leopard grouperMycteroperca rosacea (Streets, 1877) | EpinephelidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| black grouperMycteroperca bonaci (Poey, 1860) | EpinephelidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mycteroperca profundorum Cervigón, 2011 | EpinephelidaeChordata | 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 |
|---|---|
| Mycteroperca microlepsis (Goode & Bean, 1879) (Goode & Bean, 1879) | synonym |
| Trisotropis microlepis Goode & Bean, 1879 Goode & Bean, 1879 | 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=273880 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:44ZP7. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.