Hypoplectrus nigricans, the black hamlet, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sea bass from the subfamily Serraninae which is part of the family Serranidae, which also includes the groupers and anthias.

It is native to shallow parts of the central Western Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea.

Hypoplectrus nigricans is a small fish growing to a total length of 85 to 150 mm (3.3 to 5.9 in).

Its range extends from southeastern Florida and the Bahamas, through the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico to Santa Marta in Colombia and to the islands off the coast of Venezuela.

[1] As a simultaneous hermaphrodite, H. nigricans has an unusual reproductive strategy known as egg trading.