Common names: highhat (English), corvinita (Espanol)
 
Pareques viola (Gilbert in Jordan & Evermann, 1898)


Gungo highhat,     Lined highhat



Body deep, oblong, compressed; snout overhangs horizontal mouth; top jaw notched, encloses lower; chin with 5 pores, no barbels; 17 short gill rakers; preopercle smooth; dorsal fin with long base, deep notch between spiny and soft parts, spiny part high, bluntly pointed, IX + I, 40-41; anal fin with short base, II, 7, 2nd  spine thick, a little shorter than 1st  ray; pectoral short; tail fin bluntly rounded; scales rough including on operculum; 50-56 lateral line scales; most of soft dorsal and anal fins covered with thick sheaths of scales.



Charcoal head, body and fins; often a purplish sheen on head and body; mouth whitish; front of first dorsal fin black. Small juveniles are white with 4 thick + 3 thin black stripes and black bars on the spinous dorsal and pelvic fins, the stripes increase in number in larger juveniles, but gradually disappear in subadults.

Maximum size to 25 cm.

Inhabits rocky coastal reefs; adults are secretive, emerging from crevices at dusk to feed during the night; juveniles form small aggregations close to shelter.



Depth: 3-35 m.

Panama to Peru.