This month’s Sunday Stills color challenge is ‘Auburn or Brown.’ See more responses here. Captions on the photos.
Getting down with brown
Category Archives: Fish
Spotted Eagle Rays
During yesterday’s swim, my wife and I saw five Spotted Eagle Rays. These three (photo below) were the first of them. One swept around and kept going, but two of them came straight on and passed close by. Then they turned around and came back again. They went back and forth for a while before finally heading out after the other one.
Shortly after this, we saw a fourth one apparently following after the others, and a couple of minutes later, a fifth one appeared and zipped by in the same direction. All five were of a similar size and probably juveniles.
A swim is generally a good way to start the day, but an encounter like this makes it even better.
Raccoon Butterflyfishes
Last week, my wife and I fled Hawi in the wee hours of the morning to avoid being trapped at home by the Ironman race. The cycling portion of the race goes past our driveway and the road was closed from 7:00am to 3:00pm.
Our first destination was Two Step, more properly known as Honaunau Bay. Arriving before 6:30am, we were the first people there and had the bay to ourselves for a short while. It’s a great spot for snorkeling as it’s generally fairly calm, and the area is a marine reserve, which means the various kinds of fishing aren’t allowed. Experience has shown that fish in marine reserves are less skittish, which makes them easier to see and photograph.
These Raccoon Butterflyfishes are a good example of that. I see them elsewhere, hanging in the water, but if I approach they ease away from me. At Two Step, the fish stay where they are. I’ve had one or two come right up to me, presenting a different photographic challenge as they butt my camera housing.
This small school was drifting above the steep slope bordering the deeper part of the bay.
Spotted Coral Blenny
I saw this Spotted Coral Blenny perched on a small coral head, as they typically do. I snapped a quick photo an instant before the fish zipped down behind the rock. I’ve seen the same fish there a few times since, but it disappears before I can try another photo. Given its elusiveness, I was happy this photo turned out pretty well.
The Numbers Game #44
The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 165. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
Phoenix Island Damselfish
John P. Hoover, in his book The Ultimate Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes, Sea Turtles, Dolphins, Whales, and Seals, describes this fish as “Extremely rare in the Hawaiian Islands.” He speculates that the ones seen here are waifs that drift in, possibly from Johnston Atoll, some 860 miles southwest of the Big Island, where they are known to occur.
These fish live in the surge zone of rocky shores and the only reason I saw this one was thanks to a tip from a fellow snorkeler.
The Numbers Game #43
The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 164. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
Gosline’s Fang Blenny
Fang blennies get their name because they have two defensive fangs on their lower jaws. If a predator gets one in its mouth, the fang blenny will bite its attacker’s mouth. This usually results in them being spit out to freedom.
Graham's Island 