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Family of fishes

Cirrhitidae, the hawkfishes, are a family of marine perciform ray finned fishes found in tropical seas and which are associated with coral reefs.

The Cirrhitidae were first recognised as a family by the Scots born Australian naturalist William Sharp Macleay in 1841. They have been placed in the order Centrarchiformes by some authorities, as part of the superfamily Cirrhitoidea, however, the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise the Centrarchiformes.

Cirrhitidae hawkfishes are roughly oblong in shape They have a fringe of cirri on the rear edge of the forward nostrils. There are two poorly developed spines, on the gill cover. The outer row of teeth on the jaws are canine like, the longest normally being located at the front of the upper jaw and the middle of the lower jaw. Inside this row, there is a band of bristle like teeth, wider in the front. The dorsal fin is continuous, having 10 spines and 11–17 soft rays; it has an incision separating the spiny and soft rayed parts. The anal fin contains three spines and 5–7, typically 6, soft rays. There are 14 pectoral fin rays with the lowest 5–7 rays unbranched and normally thickened, with deep notches in the membranes separating these lower rays. There is a single spine in the pelvic fins as well as five soft rays. The scales are cycloid and they lack a swimbladder. The colour and pattern vary between species. The maximum length attained is around ,

Cirrhitidae hawkfishes are mostly too small to be of interest to fisheries. The 3 largest species are occasionally fished for as food fish. A few of the smaller more colourful species, particularly Neocirrhites armatus and Oxycirrhites typus, are collected for the aquarium trade.