We've Got Crabs

    Having a variety of errands and chores lined up for the afternoon, this morning Sandra and I headed for Kahalu'u.  We arrived to find a gentleman painting the tables inside the

We're Painting the Tables Green

  shelter.  Only the ones inside, mind you, so the ones on the fringe of the shelter were available for our belongings.  Not to mention the poster boards and books of the Reef Teachers.

     Sandra is still languishing with my cold, so off I went, alone again.  Close in, I had not yet cleared the turbid water, I encountered an adolescent yellow margin hunting actively.  This was my first moray eel since our return from the Rose City, so I took some pictures heedless of the water clarity.  As you might expect, the results spoke for themselves.

    When one is just returned from the mainland, not yet jaded, he or she is likely to take pictures of the same old fish.  Today I nabbed a nice one of a Palenose Parrotfish.  I have always thought that this beautiful animal should have a better name and under my breath I mutter, "Princess Parrotfish."    That this common name was given to a fish found in

The Princess Parrotfish Holds Court at K Bay

 Florida, I attribute to blatant favoritism on the part of the judges.  This in no way reduces my enjoyment of this fish.  And its a pretty good picture.

     After completing the loop, I took my usual swim into the middle.  There I found this odd sac like structure floating by.  Its clearly not a jellyfish, and I do not think that it is of human origin (eg a plastic bag).  For the moment I have it filed under curiouser and curiouser.

     Finally it was time to come in.  Just before I made my turn into the entry, among the large rocks, I spotted a magnificent crab tooling along right out in the open.  At the moment I spotted him,  he was quite close and headed my way.  One thing you can say for K Bay, if you see something there its certainly shallow and you therefore have a chance of

Convex Crab, Kahalu'u, August 2015

 a close approach without making a fifteen foot dive.  A careful approach brought me within a few feet, close enough to get some pictures with very little water between my lens and the subject.  After cooperating for a dozen quick  pictures, he scuttled under a rock three feet below the surface leaving no trace of his presence. 

    The crab immediately reminded of a seven eleven crab.  He was a handsome brute with a mottled geometric pattern.  I had to work through Hoover's Sea Creatures more than once to satisfy myself that I had found my first convex crab.  For one thing, Hoover gives the maximum carapace as 3 inches and this individual was surely bigger than that.  (I had initially thought five inches.)  The typical individual bears a monotonous coppery carapace.  The diagnostic marking, though,  is the two distinct dots you see in the middle of the carapace.  Convex Crab, Carpillius convexus, Forsska 1775.  

     Up on the beach, we were in for another treat.  While I was showering off the salt, and discussing Pacific Northwest forest fires with a  family from Coos Bay, my attention was drawn to a pair of girls who were

giving snorkeling information to a Japanese family.  Finished with the Japanese, they came over and gave me a pleasant talking to, as well.  Don't step on the coral, tiny creatures, home for baby fishes...they hit all the talking points and were about twenty times as cute as the average reef teacher.   In turn, I hauled them over to the Reef Teacher display and forced them to look at the Phoenix Island Damselfish.  Remember, girls, no good deed goes unpunished.

    I found Sandra at our table outside the shelter.  She had enjoyed a lesson from a trio of  chicas, and managed to get a snapshot in the process.  One can only hope that such efforts help this well worn bay.  After telling me about the reef, Sandra told of watching the table painter.  Apparently the county had given

him only one wet paint sign and just enough danger tape to fence off the shelter on three out of four sides.  Before the young reef teachers arrived, she had found much amusement watching the painter chase tourists from his tables.  He spent more time defecting tourists than he did actually painting.


    As we strolled to the car, we imagined the beleaguered table painter wearing a card, a three of clubs, say, and we sang a rousing chorus of painting the tables green.  Curiouser and curiouser.


We're Painting the Tables Green.
It  won't Upset the Queen.
But if it should, they're made of wood.
And we can wipe them clean.

If the Queen should want them Red,
We both might lose our heads!

Convex Crab, Carpillius convexus, Kahlu'u August 2015

 The Odd Sac..