Scorpidinae

"Sweep (fish)" redirects here; not to be confused with sweeper.

The Scorpidinae, commonly known as halfmoons, knifefishes, and sweeps, are a subfamily of the family Kyphosidae, the sea chubs, a family of marine fish in the order Perciformes.^[2] The Scorpidinae are distributed throughout the Pacific and east Indian Oceans, with species occurring in the waters of North America, South America, Asia, Australia, and numerous islands. Most inhabit the continental shelf in shallow rock and kelp reefs and deeper offshore reefs, whilst others are found well offshore in a pelagic setting. Most of the Scorpidinae are carnivorous, taking a variety of small crustaceans, although some are partly herbivorous. A number of the larger species are fished commercially and recreationally, and are considered good table fish.

Scorpidinae
The blue maomao, Scorpis violacea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Centrarchiformes
Family:	Kyphosidae
Subfamily:	Scorpidinae Günther, 1860[1]
Genera
See text

Classification

Fishbase lists 12 species in 5 genera under the subfamily Scorpidinae, the genera are set out below^[3]

• Bathystethus Gill, 1893
• Labracoglossa Peters, 1866
• Medialuna Jordan & Fesler, 1893
• Neoscorpis J.L.B. Smith, 1931
• Scorpis Valenciennes, 1832

The 5th edition of Fishes of the World includes Neoscorpis within the subfamily Scorpidinae^[2] but other authorities place it within the Kyphosinae, although these authorities usually classify the subfamilies of the Kyphosidae as families.^[4]