The sixband hawkfish (''Isocirrhitus sexfasciatus'') is a species of marine

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

, a

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 ...

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 ...

. It is found in the western Pacific Ocean. This species grows to in

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 ...

. This species is the only known member of its

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 ...

Taxonomy

The sixband hawkfish was first formally described as ''Cirrhitoidea sexfasciata'' in 1960 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 ...

Leonard Peter Schultz Leonard Peter Schultz (1901–1986) was an American ichthyologist. Biography Schultz was born in 1901, at Albion, Michigan. He received education on ichthyology at Albion College, in which he got his bachelor's degree, in 1924. In 1926, he got ...

with the type locality given as Airy Island in the

Bikini Atoll Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese language, Marshallese: , , ), known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 19th century and 1946, is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. The atoll is at the no ...

. In 1963

John Ernest Randall John Ernest "Jack" Randall (May 22, 1924 – April 26, 2020) was an American ichthyologist and a leading authority on coral reef fishes. Randall described over 800 species and authored 11 books and over 900 scientific papers and popular articles. ...

reviewed the family Cirrhitidae and he created the new

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus ''Isocirrhitus'' for this species and determined that

Oliver Peebles Jenkins Oliver Peebles Jenkins (November 3, 1850 in Bantam, Ohio – January 9, 1935 in Palo Alto, California) was an American physiologist and histologist, mainly associated with Stanford University. Career Jenkins graduated from Moores Hill College ( ...

’ ''Cirrhitoidea'' was 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 the genus ''

Amblycirrhitus ''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 ...

''. The sixband hawkfish remains the only species in the genus. The genus name’s derivation was not explained by Randall but it may be ''iso'' meaning “equal” and ''Cirrhitus'' the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...

of the Cirrhitidae. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''sexfasciatus'' means ”six banded”.

Description

The sixband hawkfish is quite similar to the species in the genera ''

Cirrhitops ''Cirrhitops'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish, hawkfishes from the family Cirrhitidae. They are found on tropical reefs of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy ''Cirrhitops'' was described as a genus in 1951 by the South Africa ...

'', ''Amblycirrhitus'' and ''

Cirrhitichthys ''Cirrhitichthys'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish, hawkfishes, from the family Cirrhitidae. They are found on tropical reefs in the Indian and western Pacific oceans. Some species can be found in the aquarium trade. Taxonomy ''Cirrhiticht ...

'' but these genera have teeth on the

palatine A palatine or palatinus (Latin; : ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman Empire, Roman times.

and longer

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 ...

spines. It is also similar to species in Paracirrhitus but these have a single cirrus at the tip of each dorsal fin spine. This species has 10 spines and 11 soft rays in the dorsal fin and 3 spines and 6 soft rays in 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 ...

. There is a tuft of cirri at the tip of each spine in the dorsal fin and the membranes between the spines are moderately notched. The uppermost and 5 lower

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 are unbranched. The upper third of the edge of 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 fine serrations, the lower two thirds are smooth. The

caudal 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 only ...

truncate In mathematics and computer science, truncation is limiting the number of digits right of the decimal point. Truncation and floor function Truncation of positive real numbers can be done using the floor function. Given a number x \in \mathbb ...

. This species has a maximum recorded standard length of . This is one of the less colourful species of hawkfishes, the overall colour is tan broken by seven wide, vertical blackish bands on the upper body, the first on the nape and the last on the

caudal peduncle 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 only ...

Distribution and habitat

The sixband hawkfish the Western Pacific Ocean. It occurs around the

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

, in

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

Rapa Iti Rapa, also called Rapa Iti, or "Little Rapa", to distinguish it from Easter Island, whose Polynesian name is Rapa Nui, is the largest and only inhabited island of the Bass Islands in French Polynesia. An older name for the island is Oparo. Th ...

, the

Gilbert Islands The Gilbert Islands (;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this name applied o ...

, the

Kiribati Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...

Line Islands The Line Islands, Teraina Islands or Equatorial Islands () are a chain of 11 atolls (with partly or fully enclosed lagoons, except Vostok and Jarvis) and coral islands (with a surrounding reef) in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Hawa ...

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...

; Tonga;

United States Minor Outlying Islands The United States Minor Outlying Islands is a statistical designation applying to the minor outlying islands and groups of islands that comprise eight United States insular areas in the Pacific Ocean (Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Isla ...

Howland Island Howland Island () is a coral island and strict nature reserve located just north of the equator in the central Pacific Ocean, about southwest of Honolulu. The island lies almost halfway between Hawaii and Australia and is an Territories of the ...

and

Baker Island Baker Island, once known as New Nantucket in the early 19th century, is a small, uninhabited atoll located just north of the Equator in the central Pacific Ocean, approximately southwest of Honolulu. Positioned almost halfway between Hawaii a ...

. They are found in shallow water at depths between . They are associated with reefs.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2587394, from2=Q2381377 Cirrhitidae Fish described in 1960 Taxa named by John Ernest Randall Taxa named by Leonard Peter Schultz