The redbarred hawkfish ('' Cirrhitops fasciatus'') is a species of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

, a

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 ...

belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Cirrhitidae 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 ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Hawaiian Archipelago The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...

in the Pacific Ocean.

Taxonomy

The redbarred hawkfish was first formally described in 1828 as ''Cirrhites fasciatus'' by the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

naturalist

Edward Turner Bennett Edward Turner Bennett (6 January 1797 – 21 August 1836) was an English zoologist and writer. He was the elder brother of the botanist John Joseph Bennett.

with the type locality given as the Hawaiian Islands. In 1829 Georges Cuvier described a species with the same name with the type locality given as Puducherry in India which Albert Günther mistakenly thought predated Turner’s description. Günther devised the new name ''Cirrhites cinctus'' to replace Turner’s original name but Cuvier published his name a year after Bennett published, meaning Cuvier’s name was invalid and Günther‘s replacement name unnecessary. ''Cirrhites'' was a common misspelling of '' Cirrfitus''. In 1951 the South African

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, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

J.L.B. Smith James Leonard Brierley Smith (26 September 1897 – 8 January 1968) was a South African ichthyologist, organic chemist, and university professor. He was the first to identify a taxidermied fish as a coelacanth, at the time thought to be long e ...

described the new

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

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 ...

'' with ''Cirrhites fasciatus'' as the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

. When he described the genus Smith stated that it was monotypic. The species was known from the southwestern Indian Ocean and its type locality of Hawaii and no records came from between these places, Cuvier’s locality of India for his name being an error. In 2008, in a paper co-authored by

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. ...

and Jennifer K. Schultz, a new species ''

Cirrhitops mascarenensis ''Cirrhitops mascarenensis'' is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a hawkfish belonging to the family Cirrhitidae. It is found in the southwestern Indian Ocean. Taxonomy ''Cirrhitops mascarenensis'' was first formally described in 2008 by John ...

'' was described from the south western Indian Ocean based on genetic and morphological analyses. This then resolved the status of the redbarred hawkfish as a species

to the Hawaiian archipelago. The specific name ''fasciatus'' means “banded”, referring the four thick bands on the body.

Description

The redbarred hawkfish has the higher 2 and lower 6

pectoral fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as ...

rays with no branching. There are 10 spines Nd 14, occasionally 15, soft rays in the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

the spines all have a tassel of

cirri Giovanni Battista Cirri (1 October 1724 – 11 June 1808) was an Italian cellist and composer in the 18th century. Biography Cirri was born in Forlì in the Emilia-Romagna Region of Italy. He had his first musical training with his brother ...

at their tip and moderate incisions on the membranes between them, except that there is a deep incision between the fifth and sixth spines. The roof of the mouth has a small number of small teeth. The upper three fifths of the margin 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 large serrations, the rest of the margin of it is smooth. The dorsal profile of the snout is convex. The

caudal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

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 ...

and the

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral surface of fish. The paired pelvic fins are homologous to the hindlimbs of tetrapods. Structure and function Structure In actinopterygians, the pelvic fin consists of two en ...

extends past the anus. This species attains a maximum total length of . The background colour of the head and body is whitish with reddish or brown vertical bands on the flanks and back and speckling on the face.

Distribution and habitat

The redbarred hawkfish is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, records from Madagascar and the Mascerene Islands refer to ''Cirrhitops mascarenensis'' and the record from Japan is a misidentification. This species is found at depths between on a range of reef habitats and habitats associated with reefs.

Biology

The redbarred hawkfish is benthic. Like other hawkfishes it perches on corals and sponges to watch for prey which may be small fishes, and

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

s, as well as a small amount of

sipunculid The Sipuncula or Sipunculida (common names sipunculid worms or peanut worms) is a class containing about 162 species of unsegmented marine annelid worms. The name ''Sipuncula'' is from the genus name ''Sipunculus'', and comes from the Latin ' ...

s and

zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...

such as

larval A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The l ...

shrimps,

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...

amphipod Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 9,900 amphipod species so far descr ...

s and larval

gastropods The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. Ther ...

Aquarium trade

The redbarred hawkfish is occasionally found in the

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''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. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

trade.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2934621 Fish described in 1828

Redbarred hawkfish The redbarred hawkfish ('' Cirrhitops fasciatus'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a hawkfish belonging to the Family (biology), family Cirrhitidae. It is Endemism, endemic to the Hawaiian Archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy The ...

Taxa named by Edward Turner Bennett