Summer in the City 2014

    The big news on the Big Island today has little to do with the identification of fish and lots to do with

Hurricane Iselle Bears Down on the Sandwich Islands

meteorology.  Which is to say, we are all holding our collective breath while hurricane Iselle bears down on us.  Nothing like a cyclone with 140 mph winds to get your attention.  Woof!

     However, one can't cower in the corner wringing their hands, so yesterday Sandra and I made our first summer trip to City of Refuge.  This idea was not unique to us.  We arrived about 9 AM to find City as busy as it has ever been.  While I was parking the car over by the eponymous national park, Sandra was busy making friends.  When I returned, she introduced me to an extremely nice couple, Rich and Terri Lewis, from northern California.  Rich is a high school teacher and

Humphead Bannerfish, Bali 2009

both he and his bride have a keen interest in the reef fish of Kona.  Not only that, but they had been regaling Sandra with tales of the morning sighting of four Heniochus butterflyfish.

     Seeing a Pennat Butterflyfish from a shore dive would be interesting enough, but they claimed to have seen something other than the Pennant.  Sadly their description didn't match up precisely with the two other Heniochus with which I am acquainted... and which are rather easy in the Western Pacific, but virtually unknown here in Hawaii.  I was thinking that one waif would be quite a find, but four would represent a breeding population.  The Lewis's had a copy of John Hoover's Ultimate Guide with them and thought it might be a bevy of the Australian Double Pennant Butterfly pictured in the guide.

    They also had a couple cameras.  Rich had a brand new Go Pro Hero.  Having left his computer back in California, he would not have any evidence from that source until he

Pyramid Butterflyfish, City of Refuge, August 2014

returned to Humboldt County.  They also had an Olympus Stylus, recently purchased from Costco.  He showed me the picture that Terri had taken of the Heniochus.  Handling that particular  camera for the first time, I asked him if he knew how to enlarge the image, which appeared as a small white smear in the lower left hand corner of a blue frame.  He said the camera came with minimal printed instructions and a disc, which he wouldn't be able to access until he returned to ....  I played with the buttons, finding a nice movie that Terri had taken including an eel and a Pyramid Butterfly.

    My efforts culminated with my inadvertently erasing the blue frame with the white smudge.  I said, "If I continue, I'm afraid I might erase your picture.  To which Richard replied,  "I think you just did."  Whoops.

"I think I saw something."

   The tale of a new butterflyfish was enough to get the Redoubtable SKG and yours truly into the water well before our usual 10 AM start.  Dodging the horde of fellow swimmers, we made our way through the extraordinarily warm water.  I guess if one is looking for fish that belong in Indonesia, it is only right that the water is as warm as the equatorial Indian Ocean.  No one was going to die of hypothermia on this day.

    Out on the north cusp, we saw lots of Thompson's Butterflyfish... many more than I had seen previously  in this spot.  Richard had reported seeing the mystery fishes a bit further out and "at the drop off."  We worked the edge of the drop first and then headed back over shallower reef.  In about 15 feet we saw a smaller Pyramid Butterfly that was associating with a coral head as intimately as an angelfish might.  In fact, we saw a colony of Potter's Angelfish, as well.  But we did not find the mystery Heniochus. 

A Small Reticulated Butterflyfish,, City of Refuge 2014

  
     As we searched vainly for the mystery fish and I puzzled over Rich's description, I was reminded of  the classic character, George Willis Jr. as portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman in Scent of a Woman.  "I saw something." George says, when questioned by the sycophantic headmaster. Whatever it was, we didn't see it.  And Charlie Simms, who had a better look (not to mention non-negotiable integrity) wasn't there to help us out. What I really needed was a cradle full of sea-going snitches.  They would certainly have ratted out the furtive Heniochi.  Hoo ahh.  

     On the way in we saw a very small Reticulated Butterfly, also keeping to its coral refuge.  And we saw a variety of Thompson's Surgeonfish, including a small individual that was attempting to imitate an immature Oval Chromis.  I had made that error

Juvenile Thompson's Surgeonfish.  The spot tells the tale.

a couple years ago and clearly recognized this handsome little fellow from my photograph.  That little black spot tells the tale.  And the Canon D10 strikes again.

    Back at the picnic table, we found the Lewis's preparing for another swim.  They were disappointed that we had not seen their fish and promised that if they were able to find them and get a usable photo, they would send it along.  Hey Richard and Terri, if you're out there, I'm dying to see your pictures!

jeff



If you have never seen Scent of a Woman, I highly recommend it.  If you don't have time, here is a clip from the speech referenced in the blog.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuYhfCkRxyE