An annotated checklist of the groupers and sea basses known to date is given. Species are arranged in the subfamilies Anthiadinae, Epinephelinae, and Serraninae and listed alphabetically according to the genus they belong to. The list includes 1183 nominal species representing 579 valid species in 72 genera. Thirty-one new junior synonyms (Cerna acutirostris var. lata Döderlein, Holocentrus bicolor Shaw, Centropristis brasiliensis Brisout de Barneville, Labrus caprulensis Nardo, Holocentrus chana Nardo, Serranus confertus Anonymous, Holocentrus decussatus Shaw, Labrus fasciatus Walbaum, Perca fusca Thunberg, Serranus goliath Peters, Paraserranus hasseltii Bleeker, Holocentrus hians Nardo, Grammistes lineatus Arnault, Holocentrus marinus variegatus Suchow, Serranus cruentatus Peters, Holocentrus epinephelus Lacepède, Plectropoma melanorhina Guichenot, Serranus melas Peters, Prionodes nigropunctatus Hildebrand, Perca pentacantha Lacepède, Holocentrus pirapixanga Lacepède, Labrus salviani Suckow, Serranus sarnicus Griffith and Smith, Lutjanus scriptura Lacepéde, Bodianus sexlineatus Lacepède, Labrus spalatensis Walbaum, Centropristis springeri Weed, Epinephelus striatus Bloch, Perca triacantha Lacepède, Lutjanus trilobatus Lacepède, Mustelichthys ui Tanaka) are recognized. Five nomina oblita (Cerna sicana Döderlein, Epinephelus argus Bloch and Schneider, Grammistes compressus Liénard, Perca miniata caeruleoocellata Forsskål, and Holocentrus zebra Marion de Procé) are here declared. Perca daba Forsskål is regarded as vernacular. An unneeded replacement name (Epinephelus dermatolepis Boulenger) is discovered. Epinephelus gigas (Brünnich) should be regarded as the valid name presently known as Epinephelus marginatus and an application to ICZN is needed to retain the latter and to preserve stability. The enigmatic species Caesioscorpis theagenes and Hemilutjanus macrophthalmos are placed in the families Caesioscorpididae, new family, and Hemilutjanidae new family, respectively.