Kona Snorkeling, Fish Watching and Other Adventures: A Most Amazing Immature

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

A Most Amazing Immature

A couple days ago, I wanted to show Sandra the Yellowstripe Coris. Kahalu'u has been good to us lately and our luck held. A thorough search revealed the immature wrasse. As it turns out, Sandra had

already seen that fish. Over the last week or so she had been muttering about immature parrotfish and the Dancing Queen. The latter is an immature Black Snapper, small with black and white stripes and dots that emerges at sunset to dance in the shallows of Lipah Bay, Bali.

Well, Sandra had seen the immature Blackstripe Coris twice. To the right, you can see a picture of a group of immature parrotfish taken that same day. Its easy to see how she might have been confused, although the fish we pictured in the previous blog was three times as large as these.

However, in The Ultimate Guide.. John Hoover notes that immature Blackstripe Coris is seen occassionally in the main islands (while it is very unusual to see the female or male forms.) He pictures a

Miniature Flying Gurnard, Kahalu'u, August 2013

small Blackstripe Coris that could easily be confused with those tiny parrots. In fact, I would be hard pressed to say for sure that there isn't an immature coris in the above picture! Not only that, its a long ways from Kona to the northwestern chain. Where do these immatures go? Are they all waifs?   In the words of the King of Siam, "Is a puzzlement!"

   Leaving that conundrum behind, the Redoubtable SKG and I headed for the barn. Just before we reached the exit, flitting around on the salt and pepper sand, we discovered an incredibly small Flying Gurnard. Cute as a bug, he was the same size as many a self respecting moth, less than a two inch wing span.

    Not only that, but look at all the purple and gold in his wings. Shortly after we spotted the baby gurnard, our beloved Huskies made gefilte fish out of the Boise State Broncos. The way I have it figured, if Sandra and I can spot a really cool purple and gold fish for the next nine Saturday afternoons, the Huskies could go undefeated in 2013.

Find the Stareye Parrot, Win a Prize!

Before I let you escape, I wanted to share an amazing picture. Swimming the next day in sunny K Bay, I looked down and saw a fish eye looking back at me. So deceptive was his cryptic coloration, that it took my brain a few moments to construct the rest of the fish. We all know that fish can change color, and some are really good at blending into their surroundings, but this immature Stareye Parrot had tucked his belly under the lip of a stone encrusted with coraline algae and just disappeared. Believe it or not, this picture has been photoshopped to make the fish more visible! For those of you who can't find the fish, I'm including the follow up photo of him breaking cover.