The painted comber (Serranus scriba) is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sea bass from the subfamily Serraninae, classified as part of the family Serranidae which includes the groupers and anthias.

[2] The painted comber is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean where its core range extends from the Straits of Gibraltar to Senegal, including the Canary Islands but it occurs as far north as the Bay of Biscay.

The painted comber occurs over rocky bottom and among beds of Posidonia at depths of 5 to 150 metres (16 to 492 ft).

[5] It is a carnivorous species which is a territorial ambush hunter and has a diet made up of cephalopods, bivalves, crustaceans, fishes, and worms.

[5] The spawning season runs from late spring to early summer with the eggs being laid under stones near the shore.

[7] The painted comber was first formally described by Linnaeus in the 10th Edition of his Systema Naturae published in 1758 as Perca scriba.