Species profile—Cyprinocirrhites polyactis (lyretail hawkfish)
Classification
Animalia (animals) → Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) → Cirrhitidae (hawkfishes) → Cyprinocirrhites polyactis (lyretail hawkfish)
Sighting data
Species details
- Kingdom
- Animalia (animals)
- Class
- Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)
- Family
- Cirrhitidae (hawkfishes)
- Scientific name
- Cyprinocirrhites polyactis (Bleeker, 1874)
- Common name
- lyretail hawkfish
- WildNet taxon ID
- 32112
- Conservation significant
- No
- Wetland status
- Wetland Dependant Species
- Endemicity
- Native
- Pest status
- Nil
- Description
- The lyretail hawkfish varies from pink to orange to brown in colour. It has a greatly elongated first dorsal ray (in the middle of the fin along the spine) and long lower pectoral rays behind the gills. The tail is half-moon shaped with long upper and lower rays. It has numerous short filaments (cirri) at the tip of each dorsal spine along the backbone. This fish grows to a length of 15cm. It differs from other Australian hawkfish species by having a shorter snout and the half-moon shaped tail fin.
- Distribution
- The species occurs in tropical and warm temperate marine waters of the Indo-west Pacific. In Australia, it is known from Western Australia and from the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland to southern New South Wales.
- Distributional limits
- 0, 0
0, 0 - Species environment
- Marine
- Habitat
- The species inhabits rubble areas on coral reefs and inshore waters. The lyretail hawkfish is also commonly found in deep water in sponge habitats.
- Behaviour
- Most Australian hawkfish species are usually seen on the bottom; however the lyretail hawkfish is often found swimming high above the bottom where it feeds on zooplankton.
- Diet
- The lyretail hawkfish feeds on zooplankton.
- Notes
- Contributors: Mellisa Mayhew 16/10/2008; Wayne Martin 09/11/2008
- References
- Egerton, L. (ed.) (2005). Encyclopedia of Australian Wildlife, (Revised Edition). Readers Digest Pty Ltd, Sydney.
Hoese, D.F., Bray, D.J., Paxton, J.R. & Allen, G.R. (2006). Fishes. In Beesley, P.L. & Wells, A. (eds) Zoological Catalogue of Australia, Volume 35.2, p. 1346. ABRS & CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood.
McGrouther, M. (2005). Find a Fish: Lyre-tail Hawkfish, Cyprinocirrhites polyactis Bleeker, 1875. Australian Museum, Sydney, accessed 16/10/2008, [http://www.austmus.gov.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/cpolyact.htm]. - Profile author
- Mellisa Mayhew (09/11/2008)
Other resources
Online Zoological Collections of Australian Museums (OZCAM) Atlas of Living AustraliaData source
This profile data is sourced from the QLD Wildlife Data API using the Get species by ID function used under CC-By 4.0https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species/?op=getspeciesbyid&taxonid=32112
This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.