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Blackside Hawkfish

Fish · Least Concern

Blackside Hawkfish

Paracirrhites forsteri

About

Perching hawkfish that rests on coral heads watching for prey.

Family
Cirrhitidae
Avg size
18-22 cm
Habitat
The blackside hawkfish is native to the tropical and subtropical Indo-Pacific, ranging from East Africa and the Red Sea to Japan, New Caledonia, and Australasia. In Australia it occurs from the north-west of Western Australia around the top of the country to the Queensland-New South Wales border. It lives on the seaward sides of reefs and over soft-bottomed lagoons to depths of 30 m (100 ft) and more.
Behaviour
An ambush predator, it typically waits on a coral head, propped up on its stiff pectoral fins, ready to dart out at passing crustaceans or small fish. It is mostly solitary but may be seen in pairs or small harems of one dominant male and several females. Like others in its family, it is a sequential hermaphrodite: adults begin life as females, and the largest female in a group changes into a male if that role becomes vacant.

Where & when

Where & When to See It

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