They have a small number of teeth in the roof of their mouths
While on a dive off the coast of Honolulu, Hawai’i in which I was searching for nudibranchs, I came across this interesting looking fish. It seemed to be on the lookout from its hovel among the coral. I came to later find out that this fish is a redbarred hawkfish. The scientific name for the redbarred hawkfish is Cirrhitops fasciatus.
The Cirrhitops genus includes marine ray-finned fish and belongs to the family Cirrhitidae. Species in this genus are commonly referred to as hawkfishes. These hawkfishes are characterized by 14 (and occasionally 15) spines in the dorsal fin that have cirri at the tips. The spines of the dorsal fin have a moderate incision until the fifth and sixth spine where there is a deep incision. They have a small number of teeth in the roof of their mouths. They have truncate caudal fins.
The redbarred hawkfish is, of course, identifiable by the red vertical bars that run the course of its body. Its head is red with white spots. Their dorsal fins have red and white barred spines. If you look closely at those spines, you will notice what seem to be strings, or tassels, on the tip of each one. These are called cirri. The caudal fin is a translucent red, and it is only somewhat visible in this photo. The redbarred hawkfish grows to a maximum of five inches.
As mentioned, I thought that this fish was guarding something from its perch in the coral. It likely was not that it was guarding something but instead hunting. They will sit nearly motionless on corals and sponges watching for prey. Their most common food includes crustaceans, small fishes, sipunculids, and zooplanktons. Sipunculids is a class of marine annelid worms. Think of an earthworm of the sea. The zooplanktons that they eat include larval shrimps, copepods, amphipods, and larval gastropods.
They will sit nearly motionless on corals and sponges watching for prey
Did you know?
- The redbarred hawkfish is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. That means that it is only found there.
- It was first formally described by the English naturalist Edward Turner Bennett in 1828. At that point the genus was listed as Cirrhites.
- They can be found in water 3 to 170 feet deep.
- All species within this genus are found in either the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
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