Paranthias is a genus of marine ray-finned fish, groupers from the subfamily Epinephelinae, part of the family Serranidae, which also includes the anthias and sea basses.

The species in the genus Paranthias are unique among the groupers in that they have a relatively small mouth, the upper jaw being more protrusible than that of other groupers, with small teeth and many elongated gill rakers, and a fusiform body which ends in a deeply forked caudal fin.

They are visual hunters which pick off zooplankton from the middle of the water column and they have a relatively short snout which allows them to employ binocular vision.

They are social fish which are normally seen in diurnal feeding aggregations, diving to shelter in the reef when threatened.

[3] The two species in the genus Paranthias each occur in different oceans, the creole-fish (P. furcifer) is found mainly in the warmer waters of the western Atlantic Ocean but its range extends to Ascension Island and the islands in the Gulf of Guinea in the eastern Atlantic.