The dwarf hawkfish, (''Cirrhitichthys falco''), is a small

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

hawkfish Cirrhitidae, the hawkfishes, are a family of marine perciform 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 naturalis ...

found on

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

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 processes—deposition (geology), deposition of ...

s in the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

region from the

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives,, ) and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is a country and archipelagic state in South Asia in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about from the A ...

to the

Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the centra ...

and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

. It can sometimes be found in the aquarium trade.

Taxonomy

The dwarf hawkfish was first formally described in 1963 by the American ichthyologist John Ernest Randall with the type locality given as Davao Gulf, Mindanao in the Philippines. The specific name ''falco'' is Latin for “falcon”, Randall did not explain the name but it may be a play on the common name hawkfish.

Description

The dwarf hawkfish can reach in

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

. The dorsal fin has ten spines with numerous tassels on the tips of the spines. The anal fin has three spines and six soft rays. The pectoral fins are thick and elongated and spread out when the fish is resting on the

substrate Substrate may refer to: Physical layers *Substrate (biology), the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the surface or medium on which an organism grows or is attached ** Substrate (locomotion), the surface over which an organism lo ...

. This fish is pinkish-red and white in color with vertical banding or mottling.

Distribution and habitat

The dwarf hawkfish is native to the tropical Indo-Pacific. Its range extends from the eastern coast of Africa and the Maldives to

, the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yona ...

, northern Australia, the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

and New Caledonia. It is a common member of the reef community on outer reef slopes and flats and is found at depths down to about .

Behavior

The dwarf hawkfish typically rests at the bottom of massive corals. It usually occurs singly but may be in pairs and feeds on fish larvae, small crustaceans and other invertebrates on the seabed. Like many fish, this species can change sex. A

dominant Domination or dominant may refer to: Society * World domination, which is mainly a conspiracy theory * Colonialism in which one group (usually a nation) invades another region for material gain or to eliminate competition * Chauvinism in which a ...

male keeps a

harem Harem ( Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A har ...

of several females. If a harem becomes too large, one of the females may become a male and take on part of the harem as a dominant male. What makes this species unusual is that the new male may revert to the female sex if challenged by a more powerful male. A male can become a female and successfully breed, laying fertile eggs.Whyte, C
Transgender fish perform reverse sex flip.
''New Scientist'' January 6, 2012.

Gallery

File:2016, wakatobi, sawa utara, dwarf hawk fish (31319960322).jpg, Close up face of Dwarf hawkfish at

Wakatobi National Park Wakatobi National Park is a marine national park in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. The name of Wakatobi is a portmanteau of the four main Tukangbesi Islands: Wangi-wangi, Kaledupa, Tomia, and Binongko.

Indonesia, 2016 File:Dwarf Hawkfish (6851428172).jpg, Dwarf hawkfish at

Dauin Dauin, officially the Municipality of Dauin ( ceb, Lungsod sa Dauin; tl, Bayan ng Dauin)is a 4th class municipality in the province of Negros Oriental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 30,018 people. Geography I ...

Philippines, 2012 File:2014 11 Moalboal 49 hawkfish perching (15864097189).jpg, Dwarf hawkfish at

Moalboal Moalboal, officially the Municipality of Moalboal ( ceb, Lungsod sa Moalboal; tgl, Bayan ng Moalboal), is a 4th class municipality in the province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 36,930 people. Exten ...

Philippines, 2014

References

External links

*http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=218854 * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1043567 Dwarf hawkfish Fish described in 1963