Family : Serranidae
Text © Giuseppe Mazza
English translation by Mario Beltramini
Serranocirrhitus latus is a small fish of west Pacific who is establishing among aquarists due to its unusual livery and the easy caring © John Sear
Known as Hawkfish anthias or Coral Perch, Serranocirrhitus latus Watanabe 1949, is a small fish coming from far away but is quickly making its own way in the world of the aquarists.
As robust as a goldfish, small in size and easy to feed, in fact animates the poole with elegant acrobatic flashes, unusual positions, and a livery with sparkling designs and unbelievable colour fades.
It is related to Pseudanthias squamipinnis that sometimes crosses in dense formations, but conversely swims solitary or in small, loose groups.
It belongs to the class of the Actinopterygii, the ray-finned fish, to the order of the Perciformes, traditionally placed into the family of the Serranidae, but, presently, considering the differences, he too is inserted by various scholars in the suborder of the Serranoidei, family Anthiadidae.
In fact, it fades downwards from yellow to red and purple, as scales have a small yellow spot getting always smaller and smaller displaying the background purple colour © François Libert
The genus Serranocirrhitus, created by Watanabe in 1949, originates from the genus Serranus, well known on both sides of the Atlantic, for instance with Serranus scriba or Serranus tigrinus, and from the genus Cirrhitus, that of the hawkfish belonging to the family of the Cirrhitidae, like the picturesque Oxycirrhites typus. Fishes hunting in ambush throwing themselves from above, like hawks on the ill-fated passers-by. In short, it’s a serranid suddenly entering the scene from whatever position.
Conversely, the specific term latus, wide in Latin, is clearly referring to its tall and flat appearance.
Zoogeography
Serranocirrhitus latus lives in western Pacific, from INdonesia to Fiji and Tonga islands. Northwards, it reaches Taiwan and Japan, southwards, New Caledonia and the Great Barrier Reef.
Ecology-Habitat
Maximum 13 cm long, surprises also for its tall and flat body, the often-unusual posture and the way of moving © Mark Rosenstein (left) and © François Libert
It is a fish swimming among the corals between 15 and 70 m of depth where the water reaches 22-27 °C, preferring the outer overhangs of the reefs and the shade of the grottoes.
Morphophysiology
The oval body, tall and compressed, reaches a maximum of 13 cm. The mouth is small, oblique, placed in a terminal position. From the eyes, surrounded by yellow, two long golden lines go down towards the ventral fin and also over the operculum stands a small golden spot. The livery, tending to yellow on the top, fades to red towards the belly and then to violet, because the tiny yellow spot covering each scale gets smaller and smaller gradually highlighting the purple colour of the background.
The dorsal fin has 10 spiny rays and 18-20 soft; the anal 3 spines and 7 unarmed rays; the pectoral ones, that erach the beginning of the anal, count 13-14 rays; the crescent-shaped caudal fin 15 with 8 rays in the upper lobe and 7 below. The fins are mostly translucent. The dorsal tends to yellow, the pelvic and the anal to violet. The caudal is edged by yellow and is finished by a thin purple border.
Here in nature with a cleaner fish. In pool it does not disturb other fishes and looks only for a shady cave where to shelter if disturbed © Mark Rosenstein
Ethology-Reproductive Biology
Serranocirrhitus latus is a hermaphroditic protogynous species, and when the alpha male guiding the school passes away, the biggest female replaces it by changing sex.
It almost exclusively feeds on zooplankton. The eggs are fecundated in free waters and are planktonic.
The resilience of the species is high with a minimum time for doubling the populations of less than 15 months and the fishing vulnerability, very low, marks only 10 on a scale of 100. Since 2015 Serranocirrhitus latus consequently appears as “LC, Least Concern” in the IUCN Red List of the endangered species.
Synonyms
Dactylanthias mcmichaeli Whitley, 1962.
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