Species: Amblycirrhitus pinos, Redspotted Hawkfish

Amblycirrhitus pinos (Mowbray, 1927)

Redspotted Hawkfish

Body oval, moderately compressed; snout short, pointed; a fringe of cirri on rear edge of front nostril; mouth moderately large; a row of small canines on jaws, with a band of simple teeth inside those; teeth on center and sides of roof of mouth; operculum with 2 flat spines; preopercle finely serrated; dorsal fin X, 11, continuous, slightly notched between spines and rays, membranes between spines deeply indented, each spine with a tuft of threads at the tip; anal fin III, 6; tail fin bluntly straight edged; lower 5-7 rays of the pectoral stout, with membranes deeply notched, distinctly longer than other rays, used for perching on the bottom; pelvic I, 5, its origin behind pectoral base; scales smooth, 41-44 on lateral line.

Head grey-brown; head and front 1/3 of body with small bright red spots; body with grey-brown bars, separated by white, then a red-brown bar with a large black spot at its top, which spreads onto base of soft dorsal; tail base with a broad black bar; dorsal fin – inner part of spiny dorsal grey-brown, all of fin with 4 longitudinal rows of red spots; tail fin translucent pink, with a white bar at its base; pelvics and anal whitish, pectorals pinkish.

Reaches 9.5 cm.

Lives on reefs.

Depth range: 1-125 m.

Bermuda to Brazil.