Proceedings of 

 the United States 

 National Museum 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION • WASHINGTON, D.C. 



Volume 114 1963 Number 3472 



REVIEW OF THE HAWKFISHES 

 (FAMILY CIRRHITIDAE) 



By John E. Randall ^ 



The Cirrhitidae is a famil}'^ of 10 genera and 34 species of carniv- 

 orous fishes, usually small and often colorful, which inhabit warm 

 seas. One of the genera and six of the species are herein described 

 as new. The family is characterized as follows: pectoral fins with 

 14 rays, the lower 5 to 7 rays unbranched and usually enlarged with 

 membranes deeply incised; 1 dorsal fin, notched between spinous 

 and soft portions, with 10 spines and 11 to 17 rays (the spinous 

 portion, however, of greater basal length than the soft); anal fin 

 with 3 spines and 5 to 7 (usually 6) rays; 15 principal caudal rays; 

 6 branchiostegal rays; pelvic rays 1,5; 1 or more cirri projecting pos- 

 teriorly from interspinous membranes near tips of dorsal spines; a 

 fringe of cirri on hind edge of anterior nostril; gill membranes broadly 

 joined with a free fold across isthmus; no air bladder; 26 vertebrae. 



' Contribution Ko. 409 from The Marino Laboratory, University of Miami. Author now Professor 

 of Biology, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagiiez, Puerto Rico. 



389 



