Coral Hawkfish, Cirrhitichtys oxycephalus

Coral Hawkfish, Cirrhitichthys oxycephalus. Fish provided by the commercial fishermen of the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, March 2012. Length: 5.3 cm (2.1 inches).

Coral Hawkfish, Cirrhitichthys oxycephalus. Underwater photograph taken in coastal waters of the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, May 2018. Photograph courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.

Coral Hawkfish, Cirrhitichthys oxycephalus. Underwater photograph taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, December 2019. Photograph courtesy of Maude Jette, Dive Zihuantanejo,  www.Divezihuatanejo.com.

The Coral Hawkfish, Cirrhitichthys oxycephalus, is a member of the Hawkfish or Cirrhitidae Family, and is known in Mexico as halcón de coral. Globally, there are eight species in the genus Cirrhitichtys, of which one is found in Mexican waters, this species in the Pacific Ocean.

The Coral Hawkfish has a moderately compressed oval body. They are white or pink in color with squarish red to brown blotches covering their sides and smaller red to brown spots and blotches on their head. There is a row of squarish blotches along their dorsal fin base. Their anal fin is dark, their caudal and dorsal fins are heavily spotted, their pectoral fins are pinkish red, and their pelvic fins are clear. Their head has a pointed snout with a straight profile and a fringe of cirri on the rear edge of their front nostril and a large mouth equipped with a row of small canine teeth. Their gill cover has 2 flat spines. Their anal fin has 3 spines and 6 rays; their caudal fin has a straight edge; their dorsal fin has 10 spines with a number of cirri at each tip and 12 rays; their pectoral fins have 7 or 8 rays and are largle with the lower six being stout; and, their pelvic fins have 1 spine and 5 rays and originated behind the pectoral fin base. Their body is covered with smooth scales.

The Coral Hawkfish inhabit coral and rocky reefs very close to shore and are found at depths up to 40 m (130 feet), most are seen perched on coral heads at depths of less than 15 m (50 feet(. They reach a maximum of 9.9 cm (3.9 inches) in length. The Coral Hawkfish is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.

The Coral Hawkfish has a wide distribution being found in both the Indian and Pacific Oceans, however, their presence in Mexican waters is limited to Pacific Ocean and the extreme southwest coast of the Baja (established by the fish photographed above), the southern two-thirds of the Sea of Cortez, and along the coast of the mainland south to Guatemala.

The Coral Hawkfish is a very easy fish to identify due to its unique markings, although it can be confused with the Longnose Hawkfish, Oxycirrhites typus (long extended snout).

From a conservation perspective the Coral Hawkfish is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are small in stature and only utilized by the aquarium trade.