The Ironman and the Sea Monster

   Sandra and I are sportsmen, not quite like Michael Phelps and Lance Armstrong, but we enjoy seeking out important venues and interacting with them.  When I was birdwatching in Australia, I had the opportunity to drive the course of the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide.  A few years later, Sandra and I drove the route of the Tour de France as it approaches Mt. Ventoux.  Right now in Kona, we are preparing for the most prestigious triathlon, the Ironman.  Two days ago the organizers placed huge orange buoys along the swimming course and signs along the roadways admonishing drivers to respect training athletes. 

   Two nights ago we decided that we would take a swim on the course.  We're not really triathletes, so our goal was to swim a mile, as opposed to the 2.4 miles that the Ironmen and women swim.

Triathletes chill out after the training event

And , of course we were going to be wearing masks, fins and snorkels.  But compared to driving the route of a bicycle race, it seemed like a worthy participation.

    We arrived at the pier to discover that a training event was just wrapping up.  There were tents providing the competitors shade and sustenance and lots of buff bodies, bikes,etc.  Every now and then, as we changed into our swimming gear, a runner would come in to cheers and applause.  Soon we were in the water, heading out on our own Ironman swim.
As we swam we were careful to stay out of the lane used by the training swimmers.

     As I reached the last of the usual swim  buoys, now dwarfed by a huge orange Ironman buoy, I paused and looked for Sandra.  She had stalled about ten yards to my left, obviously looking at something below.

Overtaking the Jelly

 
     Not wanting to miss out, I adjusted course and swam towards her.  Suddenly, I found myself overtaking a large pelagic jellyfish.  I had admired this species while studying John Hoover's Hawaii's Sea Creatures.  Knowing that it was pelagic, I had little hope of ever seeing one.  Wowser!  The jelly was cruising along slowly, rhythmically constricting the edge of the bell.  It took only a moment to summon Sandra, who was equally impressed.

    The jelly was at least three feet long, counting its rope-like tentacles.  The bell was a luminous purple with a light brown and black fringe.  Near the bell, the tentacles increased in size and changed form red to a creamy ivory.  This was an incredibly handsome animal!

Pelagic Jellyfish, Thysanostoma spp.  Kailua Kona 2012

    And the jelly was not alone.  There were several fish living among the tentacles.  The smallest were immature Golden Trevally, which look quite a bit like Sergeant Major Damselfish at first glance.  Also among the tentacles were two filefish.  The larger of the two was about six inches, the smaller about half that size.  The smaller guy stayed deeper in the tentacles, at times nosing right into the bell.  Both had a white honeycomb pattern superimposed over  a brown base with black spots at the center of each polygon.   We swam around the pulsating jellyfish with its curious cargo, taking lots of pictures while keeping a respectful distance from the large tentacles.

Unicorn Filefish imm.  Aluterus monoceros,  Kailua Kona 2012

    Finally it was time to swim away from these amazing animals, knowing that we would never see them again in the wild.  We completed our Ironman swim, passing what I believe to be the half mile buoy that the swimmers talk about back on the pier, and ending up at the orange  Ironman buoy near the Royal Polynesian resort.  We took a few pictures of the shore and started our swim for home.

    On the way in, Sandra showed me the school of scads.  And I got my picture taken with the Ironman buoy.  Top and bottom, these large orange buoys bear an admonition that they are not to be used as a life saving device.  On the side of the buoy are the logos of companies who produce life saving devices.  Apparently it is up to the swimmer to make his way to shore and then purchase his lifesaving equipment.  Drowning is not in the spirit of the Ironman!

Iron Jeff Flips You a Shaka!

     After the photo op, the Redoubtable SKG, brimming with Iron Woman spirit, challenged me to race in the last 150 yards.  It was exhausting, but we both made it and neither of us required life saving equipment.  As our reward, we stopped for a couple McDoubles on the way home.

 Back at Casa Ono, we got right to work..  We found the jelly in Sea Creatures right away.  The filefish was a different matter.  It was clearly the shape of our friend Mr. Scribble, but none of our books showed a fish with that white honeycomb pattern.  There are two rare filefish in Hawaii, Garrett's Filefish isn't pictured because it is found at extreme depth.  The other, the Unicorn Filefish, has little in the way of markings and really isn't the shape as Mr. Scribble. 

Gerry Allen's pic of A. monocreos Sulawesi 2012

     When all else fails, one must resort to letter writing.  I feel uneasy about this because invariably I am told to look at the picture on page 203 and there is your fish (dummy).  On the other hand, the mission is to find a new fish, so I sent off emails to John Hoover and Marta DeMaintenon, an invertebrate zoologist at UH Hilo, who has been kind and helpful in the past.  I must have been full of hubris, because I sent one to Jack Randall, the head of ichthyology at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu and the dean of Reef Fish in the world.

Team Mango says, "Find a new fish!"

    Late at night Dr. Randall emailed back, saying that he could not identify our fish and would send our "exceptional photos" to another expert, Bruce Mundy.  What a nice man.  Today Dr. Mundy wrote back, including a plate from  a new book on reef fishes of the East Indies.

    So its not a new fish for the state, but that immature has never been photographed before in Hawaii.  And its pretty cool if you can stump Dr. Randall, even for a few minutes.  The Great Oz gave us some sites to send our exceptional pictures to, so there is still a little work to do.

    Thanks for sticking with me on this long tale and we'll see you at the race.

jeff

Mr. Scribble, Aluterus scripta,, says, "So what if I'm not the only filefish in the sea.  I'm still the fav of the SKG!