The yellow hawkfish, Paracirrhites xanthus, is an extremely rare relative of the arc eye hawkfish that was only just described in 1997 by Baensch and Debelius. The yellow hawkfish is not to be confused with Cirrhitichthys aureus, the Golden Hawkfish from the Western Pacific which has a much deeper body and which is much more frequently imported. Tropical Fish Emporium in Hawaii was kind to share these pictures of a stunning yellow-tang-yellow Paracirrhites xanthus with a picture perfect profile.
The yellow hawkfish is known only from the Eastern central Pacific Ocean in Polynesia, Tuamoto, and the Carolines, which aside from some of the nicest tuamotu maxima clams, this region of the world is very rarely frequented on behalf of the marine aquarium trade. This lovely specimen of yellow hawkfish was imported by Tropical Fish Emporium from Kirimati (Christmas Island) but we won’t be seeing it in an American LFS since it has already been snagged by one of TFE’s Japanese customers.
