The Deer Lick Galaxy Group is a visual grouping of five galaxies in the constellation of Pegasus. The most prominent of the five is NGC 7331, an unbarred spiral galaxy at a distance of around 40 million light years from Earth. The other four galaxies in the group are far more distant at over 300 million light years away. They are affectionately known as the 'fleas', given their tiny appearance compared to NGC 7331, almost appearing to jump about above the larger galaxy. From left to right the galaxies of the 'fleas' are; NGC 7337 (c. 310 Mly), NGC 7340 (c. 300 Mly), NGC 7335 (c. 310 Mly) and NGC 7336 (c. 400 Mly).

So, why are these five galaxies called The Deer Lick Galaxy Group? The group used to be known as the NGC 7331 Group. However, the more exotic 'Deer Lick' name can be attributed to a group of amateur astronomers led by Tomm Lorenzin, who in the 1980s reportedly had a particularly good view of the group while observing in the mountains of North Carolina in a location called Deer Lick Gap.

NGC 7331 is often referred to as 'the Milky Way's twin' as it was thought to have a strong resemblance to the Milky Way in terms of its size and structure. However, in this century, discoveries have been made to doubt that our galaxy is an unbarred spiral galaxy, but actually a barred spiral galaxy, meaning that the galaxies are not as similar as once thought. An interesting feature of NGC 7331 is that it appears to have an off-centre core as one side seems to extend further from its centre than on the opposite side. Its central bulge also displays a quirky and unusual rotation pattern, spinning in the opposite direction to the galactic disc itself.

NGC 7331 is one of the brighter galaxies that is not included in Messier's catalogue. Sir Patrick Moore thought this to be a serious omission for the observing list of any amateur astronomer and included it in his catalogue as Caldwell 30.