This week in Kona

     This was the week when I finally pulled my head from the sand and noticed that the dengue fever epidemic in South Kona was not going away.  In fact, its getting worse, with cases now numbering in the

Small Bluefin Trevally Hunting With Flying Gurnard

 70s.  In true island fashion, all mosquito related products have disappeared from the shelves of the markets that might have carried them.  This is not so dissimilar to the canned foods running out the door in the face of an impending hurricane.  Perhaps if I eat enough Spam and canned soup, I won't get dengue fever.

    The only other interesting thing that happened this week was Sandra spotting Andrew Jackson looking at her while snorkeling along the pier.  Luckily Old Hickory was on the side of a twenty.  This puts a new twist on finding sea money.  Suffice it to say, the twenty did not go into the bottle with previously submerged pennies and nickels.

    I did see one interesting fish interaction.  In the Inner Harbour I spotted a small flying gurnard.  This is not so uncommon and, as the water was cloudy, I would not have bothered with him.  However, he was being

 accompanied by a small ulua.  Blue fin trevally are possibly the fish most likely to seek help from another species in their ongoing search for their daily bread.  Eels and goatfish are their usual symbiotic help mates.  I had never before seen anything hunting with a gurnard, but the little guy was disturbing the sand as much as any goatfish, so from the standpoint of the ulua, it makes sense.

   On the same outing in the water off Paul Allen's Reef, I got this nice picture of a pair of Reticulated Butterflyfish.  Heaven knows why this species has increased in numbers.  It is so handsome and approachable that I can't resist taking its picture.  

    Also out there was a fine little Whitley's Trunkfish.  I don't see these very often and this one was especially cooperative.  He was nosing around that piece of sunken rudder, which made an perfect hand hold in about

seven feet of water for this picture. 

    Two days ago, Sandra and I made a dash up to Beach 69.  It was a gorgeous day, perfect for reading in a beach chair, enjoying a picnic lunch and making friends with fellow northwesterners who were escaping the winter weather.  It was also a great day for seahorse watching.  Yours truly found his first hippocamp cruising along by a stick, right where he ought to be.  I spent ten minutes watching him as he poked here and there on the sandy bottom.  His compatriot, the box crab, was also present for comic relief.
   And that was the week that was here in Kailua.

jeff

Kailuan Hippocamp  November 2015