Stocky hawkfish

Cirrhitus pinnulatus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth2–15 m
Water temperature23–30 °C
Best monthsAugust, September, and October
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: no rights reserved, uploaded by steve b · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

About this species

Cirrhitus pinnulatus, the stocky hawkfish, whitespotted hawkfish or marbled hawkfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a hawkfish belonging to the family Cirrhitidae. It is found in the Indo-West Pacific region.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Cirrhitus pinnulatus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 115 records
February: 125 records
March: 199 records
April: 258 records
May: 180 records
June: 196 records
July: 210 records
August: 383 records
September: 407 records
October: 347 records
November: 88 records
December: 117 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 2–15 m · Deepest record: 182.9 m

0–10 m: 868 records
10–20 m: 375 records
20–30 m: 78 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 23–30 °C

22–24 °C: 129 records
24–26 °C: 234 records
26–28 °C: 64 records
28–30 °C: 119 records

Photos

(c) Ken-ichi Ueda, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ken-ichi Ueda, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Cricket Raspet, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Don Loarie, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Stocky hawkfish, Hard-headed Hawk Fish, Marbled Hawkfish, oopukai, redspotted hawkfish, Spotted Hawkfish, stocky hawkfish, White-spotted Hawkfish, White Spotted Hawkfish

Names in 5 more languages

German: Riesen-Korallenwächter
Spanish: Halcón fornido
French: Empervier de Corail, Epervier de corail, Épervier de corail
Japanese: イソゴンベ
Simplified Chinese: 翼䱵

Other scientific names: Cirrhites maculosus, Cirrhites pinnulatus, Cirrhitus alternatus, Cirrhitus maculatus, Cirrhitus spilotoceps, Labrus marmoratus, Labrus pinnulatus

Similar species

Coral hawkfish
Cirrhitichthys oxycephalus
Twinspot Hawkfish
Amblycirrhitus bimacula
Spotted hawkfish
Cirrhitichthys aprinus
Dwarf hawkfish
Cirrhitichthys falco
Swallowtail hawfish
Cyprinocirrhites polyactis
Leopard Hawkfish
Amblycirrhitus unimacula

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
1,967 open-data records from 1902 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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