Caracanthus, the coral crouchers, or orbicular velvetfishes, are a genus of ray-finned fishes.

This genus is the only member of the monotypic subfamily Caracanthinae, part of the family Scorpaenidae.

Caracanthus was first formally described as a monotypic genus in 1845 by the Danish zoologist Henrik Nikolai Krøyer when he described the new species the Hawaiian orbicular velvetfish (Caracanthus typicus).

There is a single notch in the dorsal fin which has its origin on the nape and which contains between 6 and 8 spines and 11 and 14 soft rays.

[5] These small fishes vary in size from a maximum standard length of 2.9 cm (1.1 in) in C. typicus to a maximum total length of 5 cm (2.0 in) for the other 3 species.