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Hawkfish image gallery...
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| click on any image to enlarge |
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Arc-eye, Zanzibar
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Giant hawkfish, Socorro, Mexico |
Freckled, Mozambique |
Long-nose, Indonesia |
Threadfin, Indonesia |
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Dwarf hawkfish,
Thailand
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Long-nose, Indonesia |
Threadfin, Philippines |
Freckled var.,
Indonesia |
Halfspotted,
Christmas Island |
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Int = intermediate | Juv = juvenile | Var. = variation
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All about hawkfish...
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Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Cirrhitidae - Hawkfish
Hawkfish have not been evaluated for the IUCN red list of threatened species but habitat loss, fishing and collection for the aquarium trade may cause problems in the future. |
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Hawkfish belong to the Cirrhitidae family, which has over 30 different species around the world – although spotting the differences between some of them, especially on a dive, can take some doing. With a small, stout body and comparatively large head, their distinguishing features are all to do with colour and pattern: spots, stripes and freckles. They all have tiny frills (or cirri) on their dorsal fins and just behind their nostrils.
This fish family ranges from 10 centimetres to about 30 long, with the smaller species common in the tropics while the larger ones tend to be found in subtropical, cooler waters. Generally hawkfish are shallow water fish, rarely found deeper than thirty metres.
Hawkfish get their common name from the way they sit completely still on the reef, then swiftly swoop down on a suitable prey as it passes by. This is due to their lack of a swim bladder, the organ which allows them to hover in the water column. This means they will sink when they are not on the move so spend their days perched on a favoured piece of coral or other part of the reef, anywhere with a pattern or tone that matches their own and affording them some camouflage.
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Hawkfish encounters...
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LOCATION: West Papua
DIVE SITE: Fiabacet Channel
DEPTH: 20 metres
SPECIES: Cirrhitichthys aprinus
COMMON NAME: Threadfin hawkfish
IMAGE: Hunting hawkfish
DIVE LOG: Two tiny rock islands protrude from the sea, while beneath the surface, a saddle of coral clad reef connects them. There is a small pinnacle in the middle of the this saddle that is covered in corals and fans and although a light current swishes around it, the site has a lot of macro life. This threadfin hawkfish caught our attention as he was sitting is such an exposed position, very unlike them as they are nearly always nestled into the reef for protection. This protruding sponge must have been handy place for spotting prey as although he swooped away when we disturbed him, he quickly returned as we finned away.
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