southern kingcroaker
Menticirrhus americanus (Linnaeus, 1758)
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 americanus, the southern kingfish, southern kingcroaker, king whiting, Carolina whiting, sea mullet, roundhead, or whiting, is a species of marine fish in the family Sciaenidae. It lives in shallow coastal waters on the western fringes of the Atlantic Ocean.
Wikipedia contributors, Menticirrhus americanus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:47:31.861322+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Menticirrhus americanus (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Common name
- southern 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 americanus (Linnaeus, 1758)
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 |
| northern kingcroakerMenticirrhus saxatilis (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) | SciaenidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| California corbinaMenticirrhus undulatus (Girard, 1854) | 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 |
|---|---|
| Cyprinus americanus Linnaeus, 1758 Linnaeus, 1758 | synonym |
| Menthicirrhus americanus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Linnaeus, 1758) | synonym |
| Umbrina martinicensis Cuvier, 1830 Cuvier, 1830 | synonym |
| Umbrina arenata Cuvier, 1830 Cuvier, 1830 | synonym |
| Menticirrhus martinicensis (Cuvier, 1830) (Cuvier, 1830) | synonym |
| Perca alburnus Linnaeus, 1766 Linnaeus, 1766 | synonym |
| Umbrina gracilis Cuvier, 1830 Cuvier, 1830 | 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=159326 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:72ZJ2. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.