Category Archives: Fish

Better Days: Dead blenny

Better Days-Dead Blenny

Exploring tide pools one day, I found this unfortunate floating blenny. It was quite large, for a blenny, and in a small pool. The weather had been calm for a few days, without much ocean swell. I think the fish was trapped in the pool and, without fresh seawater reaching it, the pool had become stale and oxygen starved.

The macabre essence of the scene contrasted with its painterly quality, enhanced by the blenny’s coloration and the delicate creamy shells in the pool.

Updated 6-20-18

I’ve since learned that the ‘delicate creamy shells’ in the pool are actually a type of seaweed, Padina japonica. I’m also not sure about my oxygen starvation theory either since blennies are notoriously adept as jumping from pool to pool. Two things are unchanged however: the blenny is still dead and I still like the painterly quality.

Yellow tang shoal

Yellow tang feeding

Yellow tang shoal feedingYellow tang are one of the most noticeable fish on the reef, in part because of their bright color, and in part because of their prolific numbers. These fish are also very popular in the aquarium trade, but because they can’t be bred in captivity, all aquarium yellow tang are collected from the wild.

Aquarium fish collection is regulated by Hawaii’s Department of Land and Resources, but conservationists have taken the department to court claiming it doesn’t follow Hawaii’s environmental laws. The DNLR restricts areas where fish can be collected and issues permits allowing the capture of 2,000 fish per permit. However there’s no restriction on how many permits can be issued, or where the permit will be used or what fish are intended to be taken.

Last week, a court voided all the permits and basically told DNLR to start over with its rules for fish collection. Expect this case to run and run.

Posted in response to this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge ‘Prolific.’

Yellow tang shoal

Heller’s barracuda

Heller's Barracuda

I saw this group of fish one day when water conditions weren’t very good, so I was happy to get a photo as decent as this. What caught my attention were the blue stripes, pointed front with underslung jaw, and forked tail.

It was a bit tricky to identify as most photos I found, including my fish book, John P. Hoover’s The Ultimate Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes, Sea Turtles, Dolphins, Whales, and Seals, show only shoals of Heller’s barracudas.

Heller’s barracudas are related to great barracudas but aren’t dangerous. They hunt by night and move inshore to rest in groups like this one by day.

Cornetfish close-up

Bluespotted Cornetfish

Bluespotted cornetfish are long and slender, though they appear wide if seen from above. They can often be seen hovering in quite shallow water. While they’re quite capable of shooting off if they feel threatened, they’re equally likely to remain where they are and watch as swimmers or snorkelers pass close by, even directly above them.

This one was in very shallow water as I passed over it and it didn’t budge. It had a wound on the right side of its snout, near the tip. I’ve noticed other cornetfish with damaged snouts including one where the whole thing veered off at 45 degrees. I saw it on more than one occasion and it didn’t seen to be bothering the fish. I assume the damage was the result of an encounter with some would-be predator, but part of me likes to wonder if such wounds are sometimes simply the result of banging into things with that long, long snout.

Bluespine unicornfish

Bluespine Unicornfish

On any given day, I’d rather be snorkeling. There’s always something interesting to see in the water here.

This fish is a bluespine unicornfish, a name which is pretty self-explanatory. The blue spines by the base of the tail are very visible as is the prominent horn. Not all unicornfish have horns.

The horn helps make the bluespine unicornfish look permanently grumpy, which is perhaps why these fish tend to lead solitary lives. They also tend to be wary around snorkelers, maintaining their distance or easing away when approached. This one, however, appeared more curious and made a couple of closer passes before disappearing.

Posted in response to this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, ‘I’d rather be…’

A black-crowned night heron snaffles a tilapia

This juvenile black-crowned night heron swooped down and snatched a large tilapia out of a pond in front of a house by the coast. Trouble is, the fish was a bit big and the heron struggled to swallow it. After working on it by the pond, the bird flew to the top of a tree where a strong wind added to its difficulties. It hopped over to a taller tree, which only made things worse, before setting down on the rocky shore nearby.

I saw the bird a few minutes later without the fish, but don’t know whether it finally managed to swallow it or gave up and ejected it. Either way it wasn’t a good day for the fish.

Posted in response to this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, ‘Out of This World.’