Category Archives: In The Water

Little fish hoping to grow

Little fish in a pond at Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park

Along the Kona coast, there are several ponds a little way inshore. These are anchialine ponds containing a mix of freshwater and saltwater. The freshwater comes from a mix of rain, runoff, and the occasional spring. The saltwater intrudes from cracks in the lava.

These ponds often harbor a mix of wildlife from birds and bugs to the tiny fish in this photo. I’m not sure what these fish are, in one such pond at Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, but the ponds offer a relatively safe place to start out life. However, they will need to make their way to the sea before they grow too big to escape the pond. Once there, survival will become a chancier thing.

For more information about Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, go to bigislandhikes.com/kaloko-honokohau-park/.

Divers down

Divers in the waters off the Big Island of Hawaii.Divers in the waters off the Big Island of Hawaii.

Not surprisingly, Hawaii is popular with divers. Warm, clear waters and lots of fish and coral means there’s lots to see. For snorkelers, like me, the divers themselves are something to watch for.

I saw this group heading out toward deeper waters and liked how the light caught the bubbles of air, and also the colorful fins of two of the divers.

Divers in the waters off the Big Island of Hawaii.

Crowned jellyfish

A crowned jellyfish in the waters off the Big Island of Hawaii

Conditions weren’t great during a recent swim. Their were ocean swells and an onshore wind made the water choppy. The visibility was only fair, with a lot of coral polyps, the little dots in the photo. But then, literally out of the blue, I saw this crowned or crown jellyfish (Cephea cephea).

There followed a protracted dance where I tried to get close enough to the jellyfish to take a photo, without getting close enough to be stung (though my marine invertebrates book notes ‘The author has handled it with no ill effects.’). This wasn’t easy given the state of the water. The jellyfish just eased up and down quite smoothly, but I was swooshing back and forth with the water. So I’d get myself into a decent position, ready to take a photo, and a swell would propel me in the jellyfish’s direction prompting me to churn the water and head away.

The photos weren’t great because of this toing and froing and the murky water. This is the best of them, which I quite like as it captures the luminosity of the jellyfish as well as showing various parts – the crown with its arms on the top, the tentacles below.

A little later I saw another, smaller one of these. Normally, crowned jellyfish are found in deeper water, but sometimes they’re driven inshore by swells, as I think these two were.

Sriracha the Bengal tiger

Sriracha, a female Bengal tiger, paces at Pana‘ewa Rainforest Zoo in Hilo.

This week’s WordPress photo challenge is to choose your favorite photo taken in 2017. I’m going with a photo that I haven’t posted before (though below I offer a few of my favorites that have run).

This is Sriracha, a female Bengal tiger and cousin of Tzatziki, a white male tiger. Both can be found at Pana‘ewa Rainforest Zoo in Hilo. What I like about this photo is those huge paws, the quiet movement, and the sense of great power that could be uncoiled at any moment.

For more information about Pana‘ewa Rainforest Zoo & Gardens, go to hilozoo.org.

As far as favorite photos already posted are concerned, I offer a few here:

Top. A gold dust day gecko drinking from a bird of paradise flower is a blaze of color (posted here).

Second. This photo captures the awesome spectacle of the lava firehose from Kilauea Volcano pouring into the ocean (posted here). Currently, while the flow is still active, lava is no longer entering the ocean.

Third. I was happy to snap the moment a passion vine butterfly laid an egg (posted here). This was taken on the same day as the gecko photo above, so a banner day for me.

Fourth. I like all the photos in this post for their color and how they capture something of this most Hawaiian of dance (posted here).

Finally, I love this gargantuan blenny for its name, and was very pleased to get this photo, since the fish is apt to dart away and the shallow water was rocking (posted here).

Bluefin trevally and whitemouth moray eel hunting

A Bluefin Trevally and Whitemouth Moray Eel hunting in the waters off the Big Island of Hawaii

There are a fair number of predatory fish in Hawaii, that eat other, smaller fish. These fish have a variety of hunting strategies, everything from ambush to outpacing their prey. Some fish team up with other predators.

Fish that employ this latter strategy include various goatfish and bluefin trevallies. These fish often accompany each other on hunts, but either or both can also be seen with other predators including eels and octopuses.

I followed this bluefin trevally and whitemouth moray eel for a few minutes and didn’t see them catch anything, but they were definitely traveling together. If the eel hung out for a while under a ledge, as they like to do, the trevally would hang around, passing back and forth or circling the spot.

This tendency is actually helpful for spotting eels and particularly octopuses. Several times I’ve seen a goatfish or two milling around a rock for no apparent reason, so I’ve waited and watched. Sure enough an eel pops its head out or, better still, the rock turns out, on careful examination, to be mostly octopus.

There you go, an actual useful tip for snorkelers.