Longnose hawkfish
Oxycirrhites typus
Valid name (FishBase; confirmed in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes and WoRMS, October 2026).
- English
- Longnose hawkfish
- Scientific
- Oxycirrhites typus
- Dhivehi
- ތުންދިގު ގާބޯThundhigu gaaboa
- Group
- Reef fish
- Family
- Cirrhitidae (hawkfishes)
- Maximum size
- Up to about 13 cm (total length) (FishBase); MRS 1997 gives max. 13 cm
- Depth and habitat
- Coral reefs and reef-associated habitats, recorded from 10 to 100 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2015
Description
A slender hawkfish with a very long, pointed snout, and a white body covered in a red cross-hatched pattern. It perches in large sea fans and black corals on steep outer slopes exposed to current, usually deeper than 25 m, and snaps up small crustaceans. Pairs live together on the same sea fan.
In the Maldives
Dhivehi name thundhigu gaaboa (MRS 1997).
Sources
- fishbase.se /summary/Oxycirrhites-typus.html
- fao.org /4/AD471E/AD471E00.htm
- fishbase.se /comnames/CommonNamesList.php?ID=5833&GenusName=Oxycirrhites&SpeciesNa
- dv.wikipedia.org /wiki/ތުންދިގު_ގާބޯ
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Pez_halcón_de_nariz_larga_(Oxycirrhites_typus),_Nosy_Antani
Dhivehi name source: M.R.S. (1997) Fishes of the Maldives (FAO/BOBP MAG/21) gives 'Thundhigu gaaboa' (Latin form). FishBase (country: Maldives) gives only the general group name 'Gaa boa'. Thaana from the Dhivehi Wikipedia article 'ތުންދިގު ގާބޯ' (derived from the MRS 1997 Dhivehi edition); it matches the Latin form.