# Pez halcón de cabeza moteada (Paracirrhites forsteri) sobre un coral (Pocillopora verrucosa), parque nacional Ras Muhammad, Egipto, 2022-03-29, DD 59

- By: Diego Delso
- Date: 2022-03-29
- Classification: Photograph
- Museum: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pez_halc%C3%B3n_de_cabeza_moteada_(Paracirrhites_forsteri)_sobre_un_coral_(Pocillopora_verrucosa),_parque_nacional_Ras_Muhammad,_Egipto,_2022-03-29,_DD_59.jpg)
- Rights: [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
- Picture: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Pez_halc%C3%B3n_de_cabeza_moteada_%28Paracirrhites_forsteri%29_sobre_un_coral_%28Pocillopora_verrucosa%29%2C_parque_nacional_Ras_Muhammad%2C_Egipto%2C_2022-03-29%2C_DD_59.jpg/1920px-Pez_halc%C3%B3n_de_cabeza_moteada_%28Paracirrhites_forsteri%29_sobre_un_coral_%28Pocillopora_verrucosa%29%2C_parque_nacional_Ras_Muhammad%2C_Egipto%2C_2022-03-29%2C_DD_59.jpg
- Who can see it: Kids profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

A majestic blackside hawkfish (Paracirrhites forsteri) watching for a prey on top of a coral (Pocillopora verrucosa), Ras Muhammad National Park, Red Sea, Egypt. It is from the Indo-Pacific and 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). One of the main characteristics of this speices are the speckles of the head. The black-sided hawkfish is an ambush predator; it usually lies in wait on a head of coral, propped up by its stiff pectoral fins, ready to dart out at passing crustaceans or small fish.\[ It is mainly a solitary fish, but may be seen in pairs or may form small harems with one dominant male and several females. Like other members of the family, it is a sequential hermaphrodite; adults start life as females but the largest female in a group changes sex to a male if that position is vacated.