A pair of yellow tang graze on algae growing on rocks in shallow water.
Category Archives: Fish
Pyramid butterflyfish
I kept hearing about a large school of pyramid butterflyfish that hung around in a particular area where I often snorkel. Trouble is, every time I went there, I never caught so much as a glimpse of one.
By the time I last swam in that direction, I’d forgotten all about pyramid butterflyfish and their alleged presence in the area. Naturally, that’s when I ran into a very large shoal of mixed fish including yellow tang, black triggerfish, filefish and other reef fish. In amongst them were a large number of pyramid butterflyfish, which stood out when the sunlight caught the large white triangles on their sides.
Kiholo fish pond channel
About ¾ of a mile east of the parking area at Kiholo State Park Reserve is this channel or ‘auwai. It connects what remains of Kiholo fish pond with the ocean. King Kamehameha 1 is credited with building the fish pond though he may have actually improved one that was already there. In his day, the pond was much larger than it is today, a lava flow from one of Mauna Loa’s periodic eruptions having filled in a good deal of it.
Turtles and, of course, fish go back and forth through this channel, which also flushes brackish water from the pond. While the pond is on private land, it’s always fun to pause on the little bridge and scan the channel to see if anything is on the move.
For more information about Kiholo fish pond, go to www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/hawaii/placesweprotect/kiholo-preserve.xml.
Day octopus
A day octopus settles on a patch of coral. It will change its coloration from moment to moment depending on whether it wants to blend in or, perhaps, display an aggressive warning.
Spotting an octopus is a matter of chance. It helps if it’s on the move, but the presence of goatfish (in this photo, a manybar goatfish), is sometimes a tipoff.
Jumping fish
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.
Young blue-spotted cornetfish
I came across this little group of young blue-spotted cornetfish near to shore in very shallow water. They reminded me of pieces in a pick-up sticks game.
Hawaiian hogfish
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
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.
Graham's Island 