Longnose Hawkfish

Hawkfishes, family Cirrhitidae, comprise some twenty seven species in nine genera. Their overall distribution range is principally the Indo-Pacific with two species in the tropical West and East Atlantic. All Hawkfishes are marine. Most species are found in shallow water with some to a few hundred feet. The Longnose Hawk itself is found widely throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific; the Red Sea, eastern Africa, to Southern Japan, Noumea over to the Eastern Pacific; the lower third of the Sea of Cortez, northern Columbia down to the Galapagos. Never common in its range, at times one has to dive deep outer reef slopes and search about large gorgonians and black coral stands to find it.