blackside hawkfish
Paracirrhites forsteri (Schneider, 1801)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Blackside hawkfish (Paracirrhites forsteri), Ras Muhammad National Park, Egypt
Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The black-side hawkfish (Paracirrhites forsteri), freckled hawkfish or Forster's hawkfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a hawkfish belonging to the family Cirrhitidae. It is from the Indo-Pacific. It is occasionally found in the aquarium trade and is also of minor importance to local commercial fisheries. It grows to a total length of 22 cm (9 in).
Wikipedia contributors, Blackside hawkfish; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:22:22.436650+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Paracirrhites forsteri (Schneider, 1801)
- Name authority
- (Schneider, 1801)
- Common name
- blackside hawkfish
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Centrarchiformes
- Family
- Cirrhitidae
- Genus
- Paracirrhites
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderCentrarchiformes
- familyCirrhitidae Macleay, 1841
- genusParacirrhites Bleeker, 1874
- speciesParacirrhites forsteri (Schneider, 1801)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Paracirrhites. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Paracirrhites nisus Randall, 1963 | CirrhitidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Paracirrhites xanthus Randall, 1963 | CirrhitidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| arc-eye hawkfishParacirrhites arcatus (Cuvier, 1829) | CirrhitidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Paracirrhites hemistictus (Günther, 1874) | CirrhitidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Grammistes forsteri Schneider, 1801 Schneider, 1801 | synonym |
| Paracirrhites fosteri (Schneider, 1801) (Schneider, 1801) | synonym |
| Paracirrhites typee Randall, 1963 Randall, 1963 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=218867 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4CQ2X. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.