Category Archives: Fish

Jumping fish

Little fish leap from the water to avoid predators below.

This week’s posts are in response to the WordPress photo challenge on the theme of ‘transient.’

I watched these little fish roil the surface of the water and then jump clear, first in one area, then another, then elsewhere. Chances are that their performance was due to larger predatory fish below the surface, lured in to shallow water by the presence of food. The predators will move back to deeper waters once the feeding is over. The little fish will hope to survive long enough to eventually do the same.

Hawaiian hogfish

A Hawaiian hogfish swims in the waters off the Big Island of Hawaii

Despite its less-than-flattering name, the Hawaiian hogfish is quite an attractive fish. This one is a female, somewhere between a sub-adult and mature fish, I think. I don’t see a lot of these when I’m snorkeling, and usually they’re too deep to get a decent photo. This one was not only cruising the shallows, but obliging enough to cross not far in front of me.

In my attempts to identify what I see in the water, I use John P. Hoover’s book The Ultimate Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes, Sea Turtles, Dolphins, Whales, and Seals. His website is hawaiisfishes.com.

Threadfin jack juveniles

A pair of Threadfin Jack juveniles swim in the waters off the Big Island of Hawaii

Adult threadfin jack are large, stocky, deepwater fish and rarely seen. Juvenile threadfins aren’t seen often either, even though they spend their time in shallow waters. One reason for this is that they don’t appear in great numbers. Another is that they’re easy to miss in the often stirred-up shallows. When they are seen, many people see their long, wavering filaments and think they’re jellyfish (I did the first time I saw one).

If the juveniles are to be seen, this is time of year for it. I’ve been looking out for them for a few weeks without success. Then, a few days ago, my wife saw one. A couple of days later, in the same area, we got in the water and saw one, then another, then a third. The water was quite murky and the threadfins quickly shimmied off among the rocks.

I managed to snap a couple of photos, but wasn’t sure the fish were even in the frame because they were hard to see on the camera screen. So I was thrilled that one of the photos had captured these two as they swam by. Hopefully, they’ll be around a few more weeks before they head out to deeper water, so I’ll get to see them again.

 

A pushmi-pullyu eel?

two whitemouth moray eels wedged into the same space behind a clump of coral
At first I thought this was something straight out of Doctor Dolittle, a pushmi-pullyu eel. Alas, no. Instead, it’s two whitemouth moray eels wedged into the same space behind a clump of coral. While whitemouth moray eels are a fairly common sight in the water, this is the first and only time I’ve seen two together. I don’t know whether this proximity was related to breeding. Perhaps they were just helping each other stay warm! Looks like they must be pretty good friends.

A manta ray glides by

A manta ray glides through the water off the Big Island of Hawaii
Most weeks I post something in response to the WordPress photo challenge. This week’s theme is ‘evanescent,’ a word I wasn’t familiar with. The definition provided is “soon passing out of sight, memory, or existence; quickly fading or disappearing,” or, put simply, ‘a moment in time.’

To me, this is what any photo is, a snapshot of a given moment. Even the look of a fixed object, a landscape, a building, a monument, is always changing. It could be the light, weather, activity around the subject. Everything is in constant flux, sometimes in obvious ways, sometimes only in the detail. With birds, animals, bugs, even plants – blowing in the wind – those changes of passing moments are more obvious.

So I thought I’d take this week’s challenge as my theme for the week (or at least the remaining six days of the challenge). I start off with this photo of a manta ray. One of the great joys of snorkeling is never knowing what I’ll see that day. It could be a common fish engaged in some activity I’ve never seen before. It could be a glimpse of something unexpected. It could be something seen only at a certain time of year. Whatever it is, it almost always gives me a little jolt of ‘wow.’

While out snorkeling, I got a jolt of ‘wow’ when I saw this manta ray gliding along in the opposite direction. I turned and followed its effortless progress for several minutes until it headed into deeper water and disappeared. An evanescent experience? I think so, though it won’t soon disappear from my memory.

Hawaiian cleaner wrasse services a bullethead parrotfish

A Hawaiian cleaner wrasse cleans a bullethead parrotfishA Hawaiian cleaner wrasse cleans a bullethead parrotfish

Hawaiian cleaner wrasse are small blue and yellow fish that clean the mucus, dead tissue and parasites off other fish. They establish permanent stations on the reef, and fish that need cleaning swim up and hover around until it’s their turn.

A fish can get nipped during a cleaning, but they also seem to enjoy the process and the sensation of the cleaner wrasse dragging its fins over a client’s body – a one-stop clean and massage. This bullethead parrotfish seemed positively ecstatic during its clean, several times sporting a look of bliss on its face.

Maybe next time I’m in the water, I’ll dive down and give it a go.

Pacific trumpetfish

A Pacific trumpetfish changes color to blend in with its surroundings
Pacific trumpetfish are one of those fish that like to blend in with the crowd. Their color can vary from yellow to black depending on which fish they’re trying to mimic. The can also display vertical bars or horizontal stripes. Oftentimes, they’re seen hanging upside down in the water. The purpose of all this subterfuge is to sneak up on their prey which is mostly other fish.

This one was in horizontal bar mode and on a horizontal trajectory, but not with any quarry in sight, unless I was its intended victim. I think I’d be a bit hard to swallow.