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Paracirrhites forsteri

Pātuki Tara (AT)

Freckled Hawkfish

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Adult and juvenile (Rarotonga)	60KB
Image:	Alternative colour morphs (Cook Islands)	39KB
Image:	Close up: head spots (Rarotonga)	46KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Freckled Hawkfish, Blackside Hawkfish, Forster's Hawkfish; German Gestreifter Korallenwächter; French Poisson-faucon à Taches de Rousseur, Poisson-épervier de Forster

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Pātuki Tara (AT MT), Pātuki (TS TW)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.Africa - Ducie, Hawai‘i; n. to s.Japan; s. to Norfolk

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; S.Group and N.Group. Uncommon. PLUS:; Marine, near-shore, outer reef-slope to 20m

Enlarged Image of 'Paracirrhites forsteri'

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
						+

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
					P

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Paracirrhites forsteri (Schneider, 1801)
SYNONYMS: Grammistes forsteri [O]; Paracirrhites typee

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; CHORDATA; GNATHOSTOMATA (Jawed Vertebrates); PISCES; OSTEICHTHYES; Perciformes; Percoidei; Cirrhitoidea; CIRRHITIDAE

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Cooks: field ID N.Sims (Sims88). Palmerston: Photo65 (G&S85). Manihiki: field ID N.Sims (Sims88). Suwarrow: field ID N.Sims (Sims88 & EIA99).

References:
text p.116 Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
plate 39b Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
p.289 Randall et al. (1990) Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef....
p.413 Burgess et al. (1988) Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes (TFH)
plate 34-02 Lieske & Myers (1996) Coral Reef Fishes
plate 68-06 Allen (1997) Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia....
Species No. 849 Munro (1967) Fishes of New Guinea

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zupM06a

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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