''Paracirrhites'' 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 ...

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 ...

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 of the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

and

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

Taxonomy

''Paracirrhites'' was described in 1874 by the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

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 ...

Pieter Bleeker Pieter Bleeker (10 July 1819 – 24 January 1878) was a Dutch medical doctor, Ichthyology, ichthyologist, and Herpetology, herpetologist. He was famous for the ''Atlas Ichthyologique des Indes Orientales Néêrlandaises'', his monumental work on ...

, Bleeker designated ''Grammistes forsteri'', described by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Johann Gottlob Schneider Johann Gottlob Theaenus Schneider (18 January 1750 – 12 January 1822) was a German classicist and naturalist. Biography Schneider was born at Collm in Saxony. In 1774, on the recommendation of Christian Gottlob Heine, he became secretary to ...

in 1801, as the type species for his new genus in 1876. This genus appears to be a

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

to the genera ''

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 ...

'' 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 ...

'' within the Cirrhitidae. The genus name is a

compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struc ...

of ''para'' meaning “near" or "similar to" and ''Cirrhites'', an alternative spelling of 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 family Cirrhitidae, ''

''. There are three species of little known, small, largely

sympatric In biology, two closely related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter each other. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct spe ...

and very similar ''Paracirrhites'' hawkfishes from

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

, ''P. bicolor'', ''P. nisus'' and ''P. xanthus''. These were all described by John E. Randall in 1963. It has been suggested that these are actually colour morphs of the same polymorphic species which has undergone some introgression of genes from the widespread and also sympatric

arc-eye hawkfish The arc-eye hawkfish (''Paracirrhites arcatus''), the ringeye hawkfish, horseshoe hawkfish or whiteline hawkfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a hawkfish belonging to the family Cirrhitidae. It is found in shallow waters in the tropica ...

Species

The six currently recognized

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

in this genus are: * ''

Paracirrhites arcatus The arc-eye hawkfish (''Paracirrhites arcatus''), the ringeye hawkfish, horseshoe hawkfish or whiteline hawkfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a hawkfish belonging to the family Cirrhitidae. It is found in shallow waters in the tropica ...

'' ( G. Cuvier, 1829) (arc-eye hawkfish) * ''

Paracirrhites bicolor ''Paracirrhites'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish, hawkfishes belonging to the Family (biology), family Cirrhitidae. These fishes are found on tropical reefs of the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy ''Paracirrhites'' was described in ...

'' J. E. Randall, 1963 * ''

Paracirrhites forsteri The black-side hawkfish (''Paracirrhites forsteri''), freckled hawkfish or Forster's hawkfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a hawkfish belonging to the family Cirrhitidae. It is from the Indo-Pacific. It is occasionally found in the aqu ...

'' ( J. G. Schneider, 1801) (blackside hawkfish) * ''

Paracirrhites hemistictus The whitespot hawkfish (''Paracirrhites hemistictus''), the halfspotted hawkfish, multicolored hand-fish and ornate hawkfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a hawkfish belonging to the family Cirrhitidae. It is found in the Indo-Pacific ...

'' ( Günther, 1874) (whitespot hawkfish) * '' Paracirrhites nisus'' J. E. Randall, 1963 * '' Paracirrhites xanthus'' J. E. Randall, 1963 Some authorities treat '' Paracirrhites amblycephalus'' as a valid species but

Fishbase FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish). It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web.

treats this taxon as 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 ''P. arcatus''.

Characteristics

''Parracirrhites'' hawkfishes are distinguished from other cirrhitid genera by having 5 scale rows between the lateral line and the base of the spiny part of 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 spine in the dorsal fin has a single cirrus at its tip and the membranes between the spines in the dorsal fin are not deeply notched. There are no 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.

. Other common features are the upper 1-2 and lower 6-7 pectoral fin rays are unbranched and robust, they have 11 soft dorsal fin rays and the preoperculum is either smooth or has very small serrations. The pectoral fins do not extend as far as the tips of the pelvic fins and the caudal fin varies from truncate to rounded. 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 in the case of ''Paracirrhites bicolor'' and for the whitespot hawkfish (''P. hemistictus'').

Distribution and habitat

''Paracirrhites'' hawkfishes have an Indo-Pacific distribution with a range which extends from East Africa east as far as

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. They are associated with coral reefs and rocky substrates.

Biology

''Paracirrhites'' hawkfishes are predatoruy fish which prey on other fishes and crustaceans. They are

sit and wait predators Ambush predators or sit-and-wait predators are carnivorous animals that capture their prey via stealth, luring or by (typically instinctive) strategies utilizing an element of surprise. Unlike pursuit predators, who chase to capture prey using ...

which rest on the substrate or perch on corals and other benthic invertebrates, adults lacking a swimbladder.

Utilisation

''Paracirrhites'' hawkfishes belonging to the smaller, commoner species ''P. arcutus'' and ''P. forsteri'' are collected for the

aquarium An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...

trade. The larger species are sometimes fished for food but on a limited commercial basis.

References

* Bleeker P., 1874. Sur les espèces insulindiennes de la famille des Cirrhitéoïdes. Versl. Akad. Amsterdam v. 15. 1-20. * Cuvier, G. & Valenciennes, A., 1829. Histoire naturelle des poissons. Tome troisième. Suite du Livre troisième. Des percoïdes à dorsale unique à sept rayons branchiaux et à dents en velours ou en cardes. Historie naturelle des poissons. v. 3: i-xxviii + 2 pp. + 1–500, Pls. 41–71. * Randall, J. E., 1963. Review of the hawkfishes (family ''

''). Proceedings of the United States National Museum v. 114 (núm. 3472): 389–451, 16 pls. * Bloch, M. E. & Schneider, J. G., 1801. M. E. Blochii, Systema Ichthyologiae iconibus cx illustratum. Post obitum auctoris opus inchoatum absolvit, correxit, interpolavit Jo. Gottlob Schneider, Saxo. Berolini. Sumtibus Auctoris Impressum et Bibliopolio Sanderiano Commissum. M. E. Blochii, Systema Ichthyologiae.: i-lx + 1–584, Pls. 1–110. * Günther, A., 1874. Andrew Garrett's Fische der Südsee. Band I, Heft. III. Journal des Museum Godeffroy, Band II, Heft VII. F. Friederichsen & Co., Hamburg. Andrew Garrett's Fische der Südsee.: 58–96, Pls. 40–60.

Bibliography

* Fritzsche, R.A., 1982. ''

Osteichthyes Osteichthyes ( ; ), also known as osteichthyans or commonly referred to as the bony fish, is a Biodiversity, diverse clade of vertebrate animals that have endoskeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. They can be contrasted with the Chondricht ...

''. A: Parker, S.P., Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms, vol. 2. McGraw-Hill,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

: 858–944.