Humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa

A Wedgetail Triggerfish in the waters off Hawaii.

Also known as the Wedgetail Triggerfish, this is Hawaii’s official state fish. The name is easier to pronounce than it looks and it’s not even the longest fish name here. That honor goes to the Lauwiliwilinukunukuʻoiʻoi, a name given to the two longnose butterflyfish species in Hawaii.

Posted for Becky’s Squares: Simply Red. See more responses here.

The Numbers Game #80

A Coconut Orchid at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 201. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

Also posted for Becky’s Squares: Simply Red. See more responses here.

A Spinner Dolphin doing its thing.
The firehose of lava entering the sea from Kilauea Volcano
A long exposure of the fire hose of lava.
A shedding anole.
Super blood wolf moon!
Hawaiian Zebra Blennies.
A Potter Wasp on a Tree Heliotrope.

Encountered in the water

A Cushion Star in the waters off Hawaii.
Cushion stars look like their namesake and are often just as colorful.

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘In the Swim.’ See more responses here. These photos are from my swim two days ago.

Also posted for Becky’s Squares: Simply Red. See more responses here.

An Ember Parrotfish in the waters off Hawaii.
A Palenose Parrotfish in the waters off Hawaii.
Finescale Triggerfish in the waters off Hawaii.

Top left: This Ember Parrotfish was passing over a school of Convict Tangs.

Top right: A Palenose Parrotfish caught the light, which really brought out its colors.

Bottom: I often see Finescale Triggerfishes, but rarely get decent photos as they seem to shimmer away like ghosts. These three were juveniles, in shallow water, and curious, as younger fish often are.

A Peppered Moray Eel in the waters off Hawaii.
A Tufted Spiny Lobster in the waters off Hawaii.
A Snowflake Moray Eel in the waters off Hawaii.

Top left: Last year, I posted (here) about a Peppered Moray Eel swimming towards me and then rearing up when it saw me. This one, probably the same eel, repeated the performance.

Top right: I hadn’t seen a lobster in a long time and then saw two on this day. This one is a Tufted Spiny Lobster.

Bottom: I spotted this Snowflake Eel just a few feet before reaching the spot where I get out of the water. It was poking around looking for food and, fortunately, did not disappear under a rock as eels often do.