Spotted box

Today's featured fish is a spotted boxfish (moa).  The female is brown with white spots, but the male is exquisitely ornate with several interesting colors and patterns.  These males were about 4 inches long.

Special bonus for those who have been viewing the blog:  Today we saw one turtle nip at another to chase it away.

A couple of invertebrates

This morning, we glimpsed our only octopus of the season.  It's head and body were sticking out of a crevasse, but the tentacles weren't visible.  It didn't hang around long.

Above the siphon, you can see its eyes

And we found a Hawaiian tiger cowry, nestled in some rocks.  This was about 3 inches long.

Puff, not the dragon

Today, we encountered several spotted puffers (o'opu hue).  Puffers, in the family Tetraodontidae, are able to greatly enlarge their bodies (by drawing in water) when frightened.  Many species in this family produce a powerful neurotoxin: tetrodotoxin.  These fish were 10 to 12 inches long.

Idol worship?

Almost every time we snorkel here, we encounter Moorish idols (kihikihi).  They are really graceful-looking fish, with distinctive markings and a long, filatmentous spine on their dorsal fin.  They have no close relatives, being the only species in the family Zanclidae.  They reach 8 inches in length, and occur in the Indo-Pacific and tropical eastern Pacific Ocean.  They feed on sponges and algae.

A pair of Moorish idols

OK, not always graceful while feeding on algae

Time for a little tang

Not the thin, orange-colored drink of the 1960's, but surgeonfishes with the same name.

One of the most abundant fishes that we encounter each time we get in the water is the yellow tang (lau'ipala).  Often we see large groups grazing on algae.  Their moving yellow swarm brightens any snorkel excursion. This species reaches 8 inches.

Tang grazing

But today, I found one alone, soliciting cleaning from a charming little black fish with a brilliant blue stripe.  I've looked through Shore Fishes of Hawai'i, but couldn't identify it.

The cleaner is just above the dorsal fin of this yellow tang

Another tang that we see is the sailfin tang (maneoneo).  This species is larger, reaching up to 15 inches.

Changing appearance

The appearance of many marine fishes changes dramatically from early juvenile to adult stages.  In the Caribbean, we were quite accustomed to recognizing the early stages and color phases of many species.  Here in Hawaii, we haven't encountered (and/or recognized) many early juveniles.  As a result, finding 2 life stages of one species hasn't been easy.

Today, I'm sharing photos of juvenile and adult yellowtail coris (hinalea 'akilolo).  Both stages of this wrasse species display vivid colors.

Two juveniles:  top one facing right, lower fish facing left

One juvenile, facing to the right

Adult facing left

Adult facing right

The old and the new

Remains of ancient Hawaiians sites are plentiful at the north end of nearby Makole'a Beach.  These include heiau (Hawaiian temples) as well as fish ponds.

The southern end of the beach is bordered by condos.

The beach itself is a mixture of black sand, a little white sand, pebbles, and coral and shell rubble.  It's a nice place to get away from it all.

Feeding time

This morning, we were snorkeling near high tide, and witnessed lots of things feeding on the algae that grows on the rocks in very shallow water.

Perhaps the most interesting critters chowing down, in about a foot of water, were two sea turtles.

The shell of the turtle in the upper left is sticking out of the water.

The algae doesn't look very appealing, but they like it.

Additionally, lots of convict surgeonfish (manini) were grazing on the algae.

Convict surgeonfish, wearing the stripes for which they were named.

Long nose

Of the myriad of butterflyfishes with yellow, white, and black markings that occur here, the longnose butterflyfish (lau wiliwili nukunuku 'oi'oi) has the most distinctive profile, with its very long snout.

It also has a dark color phase, which I had never encountered before.

Dark phase longnose butterflyfish heading to the right.

Tail visible to the left.

Just below the surface

Today, for the first time this trip, we encountered schools of sharpnose mullet (uouoa) in very shallow water, just below the surface of the bay.  It was hard to swim close to them, without endangering ourselves on the rocks and coral below.  They were about 10 inches long.

Mullet with a few yellow tang

Mullet with a brown surgeonfish

Also just below the surface, we saw small groups of acute halfbeaks (iheihe).  We often see a few of this species, but photographing them is tricky, with ambient light and focus issues.  They are interesting to watch as they cruise at the top of the water column.  They were also about 10 inches long.

Down south

Last week, we headed to the north end of the island, today we drove down to South Point, the southmost point in the US.  The day looked dismal and gray to the south, but sunny with blue sky to the north.

Looking north, at the slope of Mauna Loa.  The sculptured hands 

in the foreground has the inscription:

Kingdom of Hawaiians is still here.  We never left.

The cliffs looking south

The cliffs, looking north

Always an interesting site to visit.  Today, we spoke to one man who was fishing in shallow tidepools on the very southern end of South Point, using a throw net, and he was gathering limpets from the rocks.

Tossing the net, as waves are breaking behind him

The net gathered up

And for a change, today we saw free-range cattle as well as chickens and ducks.

A fast swimmer

This morning, we were delighted to catch a glimpse of a beautiful, fast-moving fish, the bluefin trevally (omilu).  This one was about 24 inches long and we hardly had time to aim our cameras at it.  Somehow, Bori's new camera focused on it, and took a great shot.

Grouper

Today our snorkel was graced by quite a few peacock grouper (roi).  This species was introduced to the Hawaiian islands in 1956, from Moorea (and its Tahitian name "roi" came with it).  Up until today our sightings of these fish have largely been fleeting glimpses, as they head into crevasses.  Sometimes we watch them watching us.

The peacock grouper is really a lovely fish.  With the right light conditions, their bright blue spots and bands on the fins look spectacular.  But you can judge for yourself.

The rainbows were produced by sunlight in fairly shallow water.

This grouper was in a cleaning station, but the cleaner wrasse is not in the photo.

A group of three grouper, perched on the bottom.