A pair of yellow tang graze on algae growing on rocks in shallow water.
Category Archives: In The Water
Kiholo turtle collage
Since this week’s WordPress photo challenge is ‘collage,’ I thought I’d see just how much I’ve forgotten about Photoshop Elements, or how much I never knew. The answer is a lot, on both counts. Still I had fun figuring a few things out and I like this collage of turtle photos, taken the last time I was at Kiholo.
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.
Abstracts: Floating branch
The last of this week’s posts in response to the WordPress photo challenge on the theme of ‘transient.’
High winds resulted in a bump in the amount of debris in the water. This branch could be on its way back to shore or headed for somewhere across the Pacific, depending on how wind and currents move it.
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.
Graham's Island 