Category Archives: In The Water

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.

Abstracts: A’ama crabs and sea spray

Abstracts-A'ama crabs and sea spray

One of the first things anyone visiting a rocky seashore here will see is lots of little black shapes skittering away. Those shapes are a’ama crabs.

On this day, I had, as usual, spooked the crabs into motion, but after putting a little distance between me and them, they settled down again. Where they settled was on this sloping rock next to a blowhole. Moments later, water shot out of the blowhole creating this scene.

Where I would have been squealing and running from the sudden deluge, the a’ama crabs remained. I guess, living on these rocky shores, they are well used to this sort of thing.

Monk seal pup update

Monk seal and pup

Monk seal pup feedingI visited the Big Island’s newest monk seal pup again, a couple of days ago, and I’m happy to report that mother and pup continue to do well. Since my last post about the pup, it’s clearly been packing on the pounds. Equally obvious is the mother’s loss of weight. Also, since that post, the pup has also been identified as female and given a name, Manu’iwa, which is a reference to the great frigatebird.

In these photos the pup is exactly 6 weeks old, so sometime very soon the mother will leave the pup to fend for herself. The top photo shows the two of them, the pup having shed her black baby coat for the more usual monk seal look. In the second photo, Manu’iwa has a feed. She was lying in the water which is why her lower half looks smooth while the dry upper part is raised and lighter. Below, mom heads for the water leaving Manu’iwa barking that she’s still hungry. Bottom, mom leads Manu’iwa out into the water for a swim, part of her ongoing education of the pup so that it will be able to fend for itself.

I should mention that these photos, as with those in the previous post, are taken with a telephoto lens. The area where the seals spend their time is cordoned off with volunteers monitoring the area and providing information to visitors. The volunteers work to minimize human interactions with the seals. If the pup gets used to humans it may seek them out and, at some point, is likely to have an interaction that ends badly – not necessarily for the pup, but for the person involved. This could be a bite or something more serious. If the pup, or any seal, has such encounters, it will likely have to be captured and relocated to the northwest Hawaii islands, which are uninhabited. This would be hard on the seal, faced with new territory and greater competition, and also be a blow to the goal of raising the number of monk seals living permanently around the main Hawaii islands.

Monk seal and pup enter the waterMonk seal and pup swimming

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…’