Acanthopagrus bifasciatus, the twobar seabream, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Sparidae, the sea breams and porgies. This species is found in the northwestern Indian Ocean.

Taxonomy Acanthopagrus bifasciatus was first formally described as Chaetodon bifasciatus in 1775 by the Swedish-speaking Finnish explorer, orientalist, naturalist, and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus Peter Forsskål with its Type locality given as Jeddah in modern Saudi Arabia. Forsskål's description was published posthumously in Descriptiones animalium by edited Carsten Niebuhr. This species has been regarded as conspecific with A. catenula, but are now regarded as separate, the latter species having clear black margins to the fins. Some authorities classify the genus Acanthopagrus in the subfamily Sparinae, but the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise subfamilies within the Sparidae.

Etymology Acanthopagrus bifasciatus has the specific name bifasciatus, meaning "two-banded, an allusion to the two dark bands on the head of this species.

Description Acanthopagrus bifasciatus has 11 spines and between 12 and 15 soft rays supporting the dorsal fin while the anal fin is supported by 3 spines and 10 or 11 soft rays. It has a compressed, rather deep body which has a depth that fits into its standard length between 2.4 and 2.6 times. The dorsal profile of the head is straight from the snout until just past the eyes where it is slightly humped up to the origin of the dorsal fin.