Flame hawkfish

The flame hawkfish (Neocirrhites armatus) is a marine ray-finned fish and the sole member of its genus, belonging to the hawkfish family Cirrhitidae. It inhabits tropical Pacific reefs, typically at depths of 1 to 10 meters, and is also traded in the aquarium industry. Bright red with black patches around the eyes and beneath the dorsal fin, this species has a deep, compressed body. Its standard length is two to two and a half times its depth, and it has a moderately long snout.

The mouth features an outer row of canine teeth and an inner row of smaller villiform teeth, with larger canines at the front of the upper jaw and side of the lower jaw; no teeth are present on the palatine. A tuft of cirri and a flap sit on the posterior edge of the anterior nostril, and the preoperculum has large serrations on at least its upper three-quarters. The dorsal fin has 10 spines and 13 soft rays, each spine tipped with a tassel of cirri and weakly incised membranes between them.

Taxonomy

The anal fin has 3 spines and 6–7 soft rays, while the caudal fin is weakly rounded. The six lowest pectoral fin rays are unbranched and robust, and the longest rays do not extend past the pelvic fin tips. Maximum total length is 9 centimeters. First formally described in 1873 by French naturalist Francis de Laporte de Castelnau, the type locality is Noble Island in the Torres Strait off Queensland.

Laporte placed it in its own monotypic genus. The genus name Neocirrhites combines neo ("new") with Cirrhites, an alternative spelling of the type genus Cirrhitus. The specific name armatus means "armed," referring to the spines on the preoperculum. The flame hawkfish ranges from the Ryukyu and Ogasawara Islands of Japan, across the Pacific to the Pitcairn Islands, and south to the Great Barrier Reef off Queensland.

Biology

It is most common between 10 and 15 meters but can be found as deep as 25 meters, typically on reef fronts exposed to tidal surge and on underwater terraces. It hides among live coral branches, preferring species such as Stylophora mordax, Pocillopora elegans, P. eydouxi, or P. verrucosa, and flees deep into the coral if approached.

Its diet consists of small crustaceans. It is an oviparous pelagic spawner that breeds in monogamous pairs. Adults lack a swim bladder and use their robust pelvic fins as supports when perching on corals.