Freckled Hawkfish, Paracirrhites forsteri (Bloch & Schneider 1801)
Other Names: Blackside Hawkfish, Forster's Hawkfish
A Freckled Hawkfish, Paracirrhites forsteri, at Steve's Bommie on the Ribbon Reefs, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland. Source: Julian K. Finn / Museums Victoria. License: CC by Attribution-NonCommercial
Cite this page as:
Bray, D.J. 2023, Paracirrhites forsteri in Fishes of Australia, accessed 10 Jul 2025, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/441
Freckled Hawkfish, Paracirrhites forsteri (Bloch & Schneider 1801)
More Info
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Distribution |
Rottnest Island to the Dampier Archipelago and offshore reefs of north Western Australia, Ashmore Reef in the Timor Sea, and the far northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, and reefs in the Coral Sea, to Sydney, New South Wales; also the Lord Howe Province and Norfolk Island in the Tasman Sea, and Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island in the Eastern Indian Ocean. Elsewhere the species occurs in the Indo-west-central Pacific. |
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Fisheries |
Occasionally collected for the aquarium trade. |
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Etymology |
The species is named in honour of Johann Reinhold Forster, naturalist who accompanied James Cook on his second voyage on HMS Resolution. Forster initially described the species as “Perca taeniatus” in an unpublished manuscript. |
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Species Citation |
Grammistes forsteri Schneider, in Bloch & Schneider 1801, Systema Ichthyologiae Iconibus ex Illustratum: 191. Type locality: Tahuata, Marquesas Islands (as St. Christine). |
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Author |
Bray, D.J. 2023 |
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Resources |
Freckled Hawkfish, Paracirrhites forsteri (Bloch & Schneider 1801)
References
Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Perth : Western Australian Museum 292 pp. 106 pls.
Allen, G.R. & Erdmann, M.V. 2012. Reef fishes of the East Indies. Perth : Tropical Reef Research 3 vols, 1260 pp.
Allen, G.R., Steene, R.C. & Orchard, M. 2007. Fishes of Christmas Island. Christmas Island : Christmas Island Natural History Association 2 edn, 284 pp.
Allen, G.R. & Smith-Vaniz, W.F. 1994. Fishes of Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Atoll Research Bulletin 412: 1-21
Allen, G.R. & Swainston, R. 1988. The Marine Fishes of North-Western Australia. A field guide for anglers and divers. Perth, WA : Western Australian Museum vi 201 pp., 70 pls.
Bleeker, P. 1875. Sur les espèces insulindiennes de la famille des cirrhitéoïdes. Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen 15: 1-20
Choat, J.H., van Herwerden, L., Robbins, W.D., Hobbs, J.P. & Ayling, A.M. 2006. A report on the ecological surveys undertaken at Middleton and Elizabeth Reefs, February 2006. Report by James Cook University to the Department of the Environment and Heritage. 65 pp.
Coker DJ, Hoey AS, Wilson SK, Depczynski M, Graham NAJ, Hobbs J-PA, Holmes TA, Pratchett MS. (2015). Habitat selectivity and reliance on live corals for Indo-Pacific hawkfishes (family Cirrhitidae). PLoS One 10: 1–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0138136
Francis, M. 1993. Checklist of the coastal fishes of Lord Howe, Norfolk, and Kermadec Islands, southwest Pacific Ocean. Pacific Science 47(2): 136-170 figs 1-2
Greenfield, D. & Williams, I. 2016. Paracirrhites forsteri (errata version published in 2017). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T67997879A115454368. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T67997879A68001726.en. Accessed on 08 March 2023.
Hoschke, A., Whisson & Moore, G.I. 2019. Complete list of fishes from Rottnest Island. pp. 150-161 in Whisson, G. & Hoschke, A. (eds). The Rottnest Island fish book. 2nd ed. Perth : Aqua Research and Monitoring Services.
Hutchins, J.B. 1997. Checklist of fishes of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, Western Australia. pp. 239-253 in Wells, F. (ed.) The Marine Fauna and Flora of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, Western Australia. Perth : Western Australian Museum.
Hutchins, J.B. 2003. Checklist of marine fishes of the Dampier Archipelago, Western Australia. pp. 453-478 in Wells, F.E., Walker, D.I., & Jones, D.S. (eds). Proceedings of the Eleventh International Marine Biological Workshop: The Marine Flora and Fauna of Dampier, Western Australia. Perth : Western Australian Museum.
Johnson, J.W. 2010. Fishes of the Moreton Bay Marine Park and adjacent continental shelf waters, Queensland, Australia. pp. 299-353 in Davie, P.J.F. & Phillips, J.A. Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Marine Biological Workshop, The Marine Fauna and Flora of Moreton Bay. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 54(3)
Kuiter, R.H. 1993. Coastal Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 437 pp.
Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. A comprehensive reference for divers and fishermen. Sydney, NSW, Australia : New Holland Publishers xvii, 434 pp.
Mihalitsis, M. & Bellwood, D.R. 2017. A morphological and functional basis for maximum prey size in piscivorous fishes. PLoS ONE 12(9): e0184679. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0184679
Randall, J.E. 1963. Review of the hawkfishes (family Cirrhitidae). Proceedings of the United States National Museum 114(3472): 389-451 figs 1-16
Randall, J.E. 2001. Cirrhitidae, Cheilodactylidae. pp. 3321-3330 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, V.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 5 2791-3379 pp.
Randall, J.E. 2005. Reef and shore fishes of the South Pacific. New Caledonia to Tahiti and the Pitcairn Islands. Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press 707 pp.
Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & Steene, R. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 557 pp. figs.
Schneider, J.G. in Bloch, M.E. & Schneider, J.G. 1801. Systema Ichthyologiae Iconibus ex Illustratum. Berlin 584 pp. 110 pls.
