Category Archives: Fish

Giant trevally

A giant trevally in the waters off Hawaii

A couple of days ago, I was snorkeling when I saw this enormous fish. I snapped a quick photo, fearful that the fish would quickly disappear. But it stuck around for a minute or two, passing back and forth in front of me, before sliding away into deeper water.

I knew it was a jack, but not one I’d seen before. When I got home, I dove into my fish book and figured out this was a giant trevally. According to my fish book, the giant trevally is the largest of the jack family. The biggest recorded catch is one that weighed 191 pounds. That would be heavier than me! That’s a tad worrisome because my fish book also notes that these curious and fearless fish ‘have been known to grab and rip away divers’ bright snorkel tips and colorful fins.’

This one was smaller than that, probably somewhere between three and four feet long, but comfortably the largest jack I’ve ever seen and probably the largest fish I’ve seen of any kind other than rays and sharks.

Small spotted eagle ray

A small spotted eagle ray swims in the waters off Hawaii

A few days ago, returning from a swim, I ran into this little eagle ray not far from shore. It’s probably the smallest one I’ve seen, with a wingspan of not more than two feet. But what really jumped out at me was it’s small beak, long tail, and clear white eyes. I hadn’t seen eyes like that before.

The ray looked in very good shape, which is always good to see. Some of them look like they’ve been in the wars. Like most rays, eagle rays have poisonous spines at the base of their tail so, as with most things in the water, it’s best to look but don’t touch.

  • A small spotted eagle ray swims in the waters off Hawaii
  • A small spotted eagle ray swims in the waters off Hawaii
  • A small spotted eagle ray swims in the waters off Hawaii
  • A small spotted eagle ray swims in the waters off Hawaii

Posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Past Squares – Spiky.’ See more responses here.

Bluefin trevally

A bluefin trevally in the water off the coast of the Big Island of Hawaii

I was getting close to the ladder where I get out after a swim, when two large bluefin trevallies went by. One swam off, but the other one turned around and to check me out and I snapped this one photo in murky water.

I was happy how it cleaned up and how it caught the fish’s curiosity and it’s sparkling blue markings.

Posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Past Squares – Blue.’ See more responses here.

Manta ray maneuvers

A manta ray approaching
A manta ray approaching

Becky’s October Squares challenge theme is ‘Past Squares,’ which is to say one can use any of the themes previously used during the challenge’s four year run. I’m going to run photos for earlier themes, before I started doing this challenge. So this is for the challenge theme of ‘Past Squares – Blue.’ (See more responses here.)

I’m starting with a manta ray encounter from a couple of months ago. This was a very playful manta, which seemed to take great pleasure from its underwater ballet of swoops and loops. In these photos, it carves a turn through somewhat cloudy blue water. I posted a couple of other photos of this encounter a while back, which can be seen here.

Spinner dolphins

Spinner dolphins off Hawaii

I’ve seen spinner dolphins on several occasions lately, both from the shore and in the water. But each time I’ve seen them, they haven’t been hanging around, but heading from A to B with purpose. In such situations, I mostly hope some will pass by close enough for me to get a photo or two.

On this occasion, the top photo shows a group passing by on my seaward side. Then I turned and captured the bottom group zipping by between me and the shore. A week or so later, another pod passed by, but the water was murky and the views not great. But then a few stragglers passed quite close and the reason for their relative sloth became clear; there were a couple of baby dolphins not yet able to keep up with the speeding main pod.

However, I didn’t get photos of them because my camera wasn’t working. A short while later, it suddenly recovered, but the episode illustrated the increasingly erratic behavior of the camera. Finally, a few days ago, it got to the point where it seems to have irretrievably given up the ghost.

The next time I went for a swim, it seemed odd not to have a camera in my hand. I’ve already ordered a replacement, which I hope arrives speedily. In the meantime, I’m nervous about going snorkeling, afraid that I’m going to have one of those once-in-a-lifetime encounters with no photographic record!

Spinner dolphins off Hawaii

Another spotted eagle ray encounter

A spotted eagle ray swims in the waters off the Big Island, Hawaii
A spotted eagle ray swims in the waters off the Big Island, Hawaii

Last week, I posted about an encounter with three spotted eagle rays (here). A few days after that I ran into one of the small eagle rays a little farther up the coast. The visibility wasn’t good – those pink spots are small organisms floating in the water – but the ray came so close that I was able to get a few photos. I’m pretty sure this was the same one that was so curious on the first encounter. This time it didn’t hang around but drifted by, disappearing into the murky water.

A spotted eagle ray swims in the waters off the Big Island, Hawaii