Priacanthus meeki
Rare deep-red reef fish with huge eyes, logged on dive sites in Hawaii in water around 19-23C. Here's how to spot one and where to look.
Deep red to orange body with a compressed, almost coin-shaped profile and unusually large, silver-rimmed eyes that give the fish its name. It sits at around 23 cm, often angled head-down near ledges or crevices rather than swimming in open water. The oversized eyes and slightly humped forehead are the quickest giveaway against other reddish reef fish.
Divers typically find it tucked under ledges or in shaded crevices during the day, holding fairly still with its big eyes and red colouring standing out against the rock. It's logged as rare at the sites where it has been seen, so encounters tend to be a slow, careful look into cracks and overhangs rather than an open-water sighting. Like other bigeyes, its large eyes suggest it is more active after dark, so daytime sightings are likely of resting fish.
Those oversized eyes are a classic adaptation for low-light feeding, bigeyes are thought to hunt small invertebrates and zooplankton mainly at night, which is why divers mostly find them holed up and still during the day.
Sightings don't show a clear seasonal pattern, and the fish sits comfortably in the 18.7 to 23.1C range typical of Hawaiian reef water year-round, so any month is worth a look. Treat it as a possible encounter on any Hawaii dive rather than something tied to a particular season.
Every logged sighting so far comes from Hawaii, United States, making it the only real place to plan a dive around this species. Within Hawaii it turns up on a handful of specific sites rather than being spread across the islands, so it pays to check local dive shop knowledge for the exact reef or wall where it has been seen.
Mapping where Hawaiian Bigeye is logged…
All confirmed sightings come from Hawaii, United States, at a small number of specific dive sites. It hasn't been logged elsewhere, so Hawaii is currently the only reliable place to look.
There's no detected season, it's logged year-round in water between roughly 18.7 and 23.1C, which matches typical Hawaiian reef conditions most months.
Look for a red to orange, coin-shaped body around 23 cm long with notably large, silver-edged eyes. It's usually found still, tucked into a ledge or crevice rather than out swimming.
They typically reach around 23 cm, a compact, deep-bodied reef fish rather than anything large.
The oversized eyes are built for low-light vision, suggesting the species feeds mainly at night on small invertebrates and plankton, which explains why daytime divers usually find it resting under ledges.
Site and sighting data is aggregated from diver logs, iNaturalist and GBIF. For taxonomy and conservation status:
Soldierfish
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