No photo available
Arc-eye hawkfish
Paracirrhites arcatus
Valid name (FishBase; confirmed in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes and WoRMS, October 2026).
- English
- Arc-eye hawkfish
- Scientific
- Paracirrhites arcatus
- Dhivehi
- Gaa boa
- Group
- Reef fish
- Family
- Cirrhitidae (hawkfishes)
- Maximum size
- Up to about 20 cm (total length)
- Depth and habitat
- Coral reefs and reef-associated habitats, recorded from 0 to 91 m (usually 1 to 33 m)
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2015
Description
A small hawkfish with a distinctive U-shaped ring of orange, red and blue behind the eye; colour varies from brownish with a white stripe along the rear body to reddish. It perches on the heads of small branching corals in lagoons and outer reefs and ambushes shrimps, crabs and small fish.
In the Maldives
FishBase (Maldives) gives the general name gaa boa. Very common on branching corals on Maldivian reefs.
Sources
- fishbase.se /summary/Paracirrhites-arcatus.html
- fishbase.se /comnames/CommonNamesList.php?ID=5835&GenusName=Paracirrhites&SpeciesN
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Pez_halcón_(Paracirrhites_arcatus),_Zanzíbar,_Tanzania,_202
Dhivehi name source: FishBase common names (country: Maldives) give 'Gaa boa' (Latin script). FLAG: single source.