10, see text Rypticus is a genus of marine ray-finned fish, related to the groupers and classified within the subfamily Epinephelinae of the family Serranidae.

These fish live in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans in tropical and warmer temperate zones.

[3] The genus can be distinguished from the rest of the Serranidae by a few morphological details, such as its lack of anal fin spines.

[3] Like many other soapfishes, Rysticus species secrete large amounts of toxic mucus from their skin in response to stress.

Rypticus is unique, though, in that a fish has both male and female reproductive tissues which are separate on the cellular level, but are wrapped around each other in the gonad.