A mostly red tropical reef fish, the Menpachi Hawaiian squirrelfish stays in underwater caves during the day, swimming after dark to forage for food in the shallows above the reefs. They feed on crabs, invertebrates, zooplankton, and small fish. Because they are mainly active at night, their large eyes are important, as nocturnal creatures. Menpachi fish are good to eat and are often hunted by spear fishermen. It is not a large fish, usually not more than 12 inches long.

Although they are edible, some of the other species of squirrelfish are generally not used for eating as they are small, generally have rough scales and their spines are sharp.

The squirrel fish called ala’ihi by the Hawaiians has red coloration with multiple white stripes or silver stripes. The name of this fish is often seen without the apostrophe such as alaihi. It is often the subject of paintings and posters, as it is an attractive and colorful fish.

In addition to those found in the waters near Hawaii, several species of squirrelfish live in warm waters off the coast of the United States from North Carolina to Florida. They can also be found in the warm coastal waters of Bermuda, parts of the Gulf of Mexico, the West Indies, and the Caribbean plus southern Brazil in South America.

When it comes to keeping squirrelfish in an aquarium, it is possible but essential that they are in a large tank (anything with more than 70 gallons of water is best), with plenty of hiding places (such as spaces between rocks and other types of of cracks). Since it is a nocturnal fish that avoids light and eats at night, keep lighting low and feed it at the time it is used to (at night, in the dark, or in very low light). They can be fed shrimp (live or freeze-dried shrimp), crab, minced seafood, and some types of worms. Squirrel fish that are kept in an aquarium generally do not grow as large as those that live in their natural habitat, and aquarium squirrel fish generally grow to be around 5 inches long where some species in the wild have been known to be around 24 inches. long. growth (such as Holocentrus spinifer, a Pacific squirrelfish).

Nature has a built-in defense system for the squirrelfish. This is their ability to make sounds by vibrating their swim bladders. These noises warn other squirrelfish of danger and can also be used to warn fish that may only be a minor threat to the squirrelfish. The sounds range from a growl to a click, where the growl can be used more to warn small threats to stay away and the click as a signal that there is a larger threat that the squirrelfish should stay away from.

Squirrelfish belong to the family Holocentridae and to the subfamily Holocentrinae. The name can also be seen as two words: squirrel fish. Under the genus Myripristis is the similar soldierfish.

There are many different species of squirrelfish, a sample of which are: Crown, Dwarf, Lattice, Saber, Spotfin, Threespot, and Tinsel.

These keywords can be a starting point for you to do more research and find even more information on the subject of squirrelfish and various species of squirrelfish.

The fish.explore-topics.com/articles site is a great resource for information on many different types of fish and all things fish-related.