Cynoscion

Cynoscion is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family, Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. These fishes are found off the coasts of North and South America in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans. Many fishes in this genus have been given the common name weakfish.

==Taxonomy== Cynoscion was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1861 by the American biologist Theodore Gill with Johnnius regalis, a species originally described in 1801 from New York by Marcis Elieser Bloch and Johann G. T. Schneider, designated as its type species. This genus has been placed in the subfamily Cynoscioninae by some workers, but the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise subfamilies within the Sciaenidae which it places in the order Acanthuriformes.