''Amblycirrhitus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

ray-finned fishes Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class (biology), class of Osteichthyes, bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built ...

hawkfish Cirrhitidae, the hawkfishes, are a Family (biology), family of marine ray-finned fishes found in tropical seas and which are associated with coral reefs. Taxonomy The Cirrhitidae were first recognised as a family by the Scotland, Scots-born Aust ...

es belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Cirrhitidae Cirrhitidae, the hawkfishes, are a family of marine ray-finned fishes found in tropical seas and which are associated with coral reefs. Taxonomy The Cirrhitidae were first recognised as a family by the Scots-born Australian naturalist William ...

. These fishes are found on

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

s worldwide.

Taxonomy

''Amblycirrhitus'' was originally described as a genus in 1862 by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

Theodore Nicholas Gill Theodore Nicholas Gill (March 21, 1837 – September 25, 1914) was an American ichthyologist, mammalogist, malacologist, and librarian. Career Born and educated in New York City under private tutors, Gill early showed interest in natural histor ...

with the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

designated as ''Cirrhites fasciatus'', which is a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

of ''Amblycirrhitus pinos'', as this name for a taxon described in 1829 by Cuvier’s was

preoccupied In biology, a homonym is a name for a taxon that is identical in spelling to another such name, that belongs to a different taxon. The rule in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is that the first such name to be published is the s ...

. The genus name is a compound of ''ambly'' which means “blunt” which Gill did not explain but which may be an allusion to the “abbreviated” head of the type species or possibly of its “slightly convex” snout, and ''

Cirrhitus ''Cirrhitus'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish, hawkfishes from the family Cirrhitidae. The species in this genus are found on tropical reefs worldwide. Taxonomy ''Cirrhites'' was first formally described as a genus in 1803 by the French n ...

'', the type genus of family.

Species

The currently recognized species in this genus are: * '' Amblycirrhitus bimacula'' ( O. P. Jenkins, 1903) (twospot hawkfish) * '' Amblycirrhitus earnshawi''

Lubbock Lubbock ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 272,086 in 2024, Lubbock is the 10th-most populous city in Texas and the 84th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the ...

, 1978 * '' Amblycirrhitus oxyrhynchos'' (

Bleeker Bleeker is a Dutch occupational surname. Bleeker is an old spelling of ''(linnen)bleker'' ("linen bleacher").Amblycirrhitus pinos ''Amblycirrhitus'' is a genus of ray-finned fishes, hawkfishes belonging to the Family (biology), family Cirrhitidae. These fishes are found on tropical reefs worldwide. Taxonomy ''Amblycirrhitus'' was originally described as a genus in 1862 by ...

'' ( Mowbray, 1927) (redspotted hawkfish) * '' Amblycirrhitus unimacula'' ( Kamohara, 1957)

Characteristics

''Amblycirrhitus'' hawkfishes have moderately compressed oval-shaped bodies with a short, sharp snout over a moderately large mouth. The jaws have an outer row of small canine-like teeth and an inner band of simple teeth and there are teeth on the palatine. They have the uppermost 1 or 2 and the lowest 5 (occasionally 6)

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

rays without branches, these are shorter than the upper unbranched rays. The pectoral fins are reasonably long, at least extending as far as the

anus In mammals, invertebrates and most fish, the anus (: anuses or ani; from Latin, 'ring' or 'circle') is the external body orifice at the ''exit'' end of the digestive tract (bowel), i.e. the opposite end from the mouth. Its function is to facil ...

and often as far as the

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

. They have 11-12 soft rays in the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

, each dorsal fin spine has a tuft of cirri on the membrane close to the spine and each dorsal fin membrane is deeply notched, with the deepest between the fourth and fifth spine. The

preoperculum This glossary of ichthyology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in ichthyology, the study of fishes. A B C ...

has serrations on its upper margin. These fish have bodies which have a depth which is roughly a quarter to a third of the

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of fish anatomy, their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is ...

. These fish vary in

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

between

Distribution and habitat

''Amblycirrhitus'' hawkfishes are found in the eastern and western Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. They are found on hard substrates such as coral and rocky reefs and rocky seabeds.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2562260 Cirrhitidae