Tag Archives: Coral

Getting down with brown

A House Sparrow drinking in Hawaii
A House Sparrow takes a drink.

This month’s Sunday Stills color challenge is ‘Auburn or Brown.’ See more responses here. Captions on the photos.

The aftermath of a flood in Hawaii
The aftermath of floods in Kawaihae earlier this year.
The exterior of a rusty water valve in Hawaii
The exterior of a rusty water valve.
A huge puddle on a dirt road in Hawaii
Drive with care! A dirt road on the Kohala coast after rain.
Arc-eye Hawkfishes on a coral head in Hawaii
Arc-eye Hawkfishes wait in a head of coral.
Goats resting in Hawaii
Goats resting on the 1871 Trail in South Kona.

Spotted Coral Blenny

A Spotted coral blenny perches on a coral head in the waters off Hawaii

I saw this Spotted Coral Blenny perched on a small coral head, as they typically do. I snapped a quick photo an instant before the fish zipped down behind the rock. I’ve seen the same fish there a few times since, but it disappears before I can try another photo. Given its elusiveness, I was happy this photo turned out pretty well.

The Numbers Game #25

Encrusted pilings in Kawaihae Harbor, Hawaii
Corals grow on the pilings in Kawaihae Harbor.

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 146. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

These photos, all with a 146 in their numeric identification, are from a snorkel in murky water in Kawaihae Harbor.

Orange Red Didemnid in Kawaihae Harbor, Hawaii
I think this is Orange-red Didemnid, a kind of tunicate.
Encrusted pilings in Kawaihae Harbor, Hawaii
Pilings in murky water.
Antler Coral on a piling in Kawaihae Harbor, Hawaii
Antler Coral grows on a piling in Kawaihae Harbor.
A Banded Urchin on a piling in Kawaihae Harbor, Hawaii
A Banded Urchin on a piling.
An Aama crab on a piling in Kawaihae Harbor, Hawaii
Above the water, A’ama crabs move around on the pilings.
A Diadema savignyi urchin on a rock in Kawaihae Harbor, Hawaii
A rare Diadema savignyi Urchin, with its electric blue lines on the test.

Lurking

A Spotted Coral Blenny peeks out from a head of Cauliflower Coral in Hawaii

I took this photo of a head of Cauliflower Coral because I was happy about how healthy it looked. Then I saw that I was being watched. This Spotted Coral Blenny was wedged into the coral head, as they do, clearly waiting for me to move on.

Well, it is the last of the month, so time for me to move forward into June and for the blenny to go about his business.

Posted for Becky’s Squares: Move Forward, Reconstruct, Renew, and/or are Burgeoning. See more responses here.

Cauliflower coral

Fourspot butterflyfish and a head of cauliflower coral
Fourspot butterflyfish and a head of cauliflower coral

A pair of Fourspot Butterflyfishes disturbed a pair of Arc-eye Hawkfishes perched in a head of Cauliflower Coral, as they often do. The coral head is doing OK, but areas of it have died off, probably during one of the coral bleaching events that have happened in the past few years, where the water gets too warm.

I can get chilly fairly easily when I go swimming, but for me, it’s more distressing when the water feels oddly warm because I know this is bad news for the corals.