Kimmie, the Coral Creeper and the Hippogriff

   Earlier this week Sandra and I went snorkeling at the pier.  It was a lovely morning and the water was bright and moderately clear.  We swam out not seeing anything unusual until we got to the middle of the

Milletseed Butterflyfish,  Kailua Kona  May 2016

swim area, where we saw a milletseed butterflyfish.  This is a pretty unusual sighting for the pier.  As he was in clear shallow water and not especially skittish, I was able to get the picture you see here.  Pretty nice.  You can look for him about halfway between the third swim buoy and that yellow house next to the Fish Hopper.

   We annoyed the milletseed for about five minutes and then headed further out.  Near the last swim buoy I spotted a pretty nice chunk of cauliflower coral in about eight or nine feet of water.  One never knows what those branches might harbor, so I dove down for a look.  I could tell there was something in there, but wasn't at all sure what it might be...possibly a speckled scorpionfish.  Whatever it was, hiding deep inside the cauliflowers branches, it got its picture taken.

    Later, back in the Friendly Confines,  we got a look at what we had captured (photographically speaking) out by the last swim buoy.  I  had two pictures, one

Domo Arigato Croucher Roboto

of which was a blue and red smudge.  The second, in fairly acceptable focus, showed was a patch of blue, a smattering of rose red spots and a fin.  Clearly this was a coral croucher, or at least a small portion of one.  Jon Hoover in the Ultimate guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes notes that coral crouchers are notoriously difficult to photograph.  This is proven by Mr. Google who does not have a single image nearly as good as the one in Hoover.  Except that, there are a number of photographs taken of crouchers in aquariums.  I surmise that if one goes diving at night, these fish may be captured, literally this time, when they creep out of their coral refuge to feed.  I am including someone else's picture, a Japanese gentleman if I am not mistaken, so you can get a better idea of just what a coral croucher looks like.

Fontana di Trevi con Hippogriffi.  Prego!

    In as much as all I had for my trouble was a picture of the flank and fin,  I could not help but be reminded of the hippogriff.

    Some of you may know that I collect really old coins.  The rest of you might cogitate upon this revelation and exclaim, "But Jeff!   Aren't really old coins expensive?  And aren't you famously thrifty?"  Or perhaps the less diplomatic among you might query, "Aren't you a world class cheapskate?"  Well, the fact is that really old coins can be had for a fairly small price if you aren't too fussy about them being what we might call museum quality.  In this instance, within the last year I was lucky to collect two coins from ancient Syracuse, home of  Archimedes and his patron, the tyrant Hieron II.  

    As an interesting aside, Archimedes was killed by a Roman soldier who mistook him for a beggar.  Back in those days paper was very precious and a great deal of mathematics and engineering was performed by drawing your calculations in the dust. The soldier approached the aged Greek mathematician and engineer, who looked up from is drawings and complained, "You're stepping on my circles!"  Suffice it to say, that

AE 17, 5.6 gms, Syracuse 405-367 BC

was his last complaint.  When the episode was revealed to the Roman general, the soldier was relieved of his head, as well.

   But on to the hippogriff.  This being a blog aimed squarely at the well-traveled and erudite, I'm assuming that you are all acquainted with the Trevi Fountain and those horse-like beasts with wings.  The product of a mating between a griffin and a mare, they are found from ancient Greek literature all the way up to Harry Potter.  Sometimes hippogriffs bear a horse's head,  while at other times they have the head of an eagle, which is how Hagrid bred them.  These latter are more dangerous, as is demonstrated by the beating that they bestowed upon Draco Malfoy.

    To bring this meaningless exposition to a conclusion, my coin dates to 405-367 BC and bears the faintest image of a horses head.  One wing, though, is very well seen...just like in my picture of the coral creeper, where one fin is clearly represented.

     Our esteemed colleague Robert Hillis took exception to the substitution of creeper for croucher, saying that if anyone was a creep it might be your humble correspondent.  On one of our last outings, Bob attempted to show me a coral croucher, perhaps in that very same cauliflower coral head out by Hulihee's palace. I pretended to see it.  But in truth, this was my first croucher.  And like my Siracusian hippogriff, I may not have a picture of the whole beast, but what I did get is unmistakable.   And pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

                          


                       
                >)))) ; >            >)))) ; >            >)))))) ; >            >)))))) ; >

    The next day I timed the tides and made my way down to K Bay.  I hit it perfectly, with the water in the so called sand channel about a foot deep.  Before I could change into my swimming outfit, my eye was

Ua and Her Flower Leis.

caught by a Hawaiian lady with two tables full of leis, which she was producing on the spot.  I couldn't restrain myself, so I made her acquaintance (her name is Ua, the name for rain in Hawaiian)  and received her permission for a photo of her with her leis.  As I was shooting Ua and her lovely plumeria blossoms, I noticed that she had a dog secured to the pole adjacent to her table.  And the dog was wearing a dress!

     A dog in a dress is a common image in our household.  When my beloved Sandra was a little girl, she had a dog named Buttons.  Buttons was the most cooperative of dogs, permitting herself to be gowned in a dress and a bonnet, placed in a baby carriage and promenaded through the streets of Mt. Clemens, Michigan.  Sandra always smiles when she recounts chasing Buttons down the street while wearing her dress and bonnet.  You can be assured that Ua heard the entire tale of Buttons in her finery.

Kimmie Waiuli, dressed up like a latter day Buttons. 

   Naturally I had to take a picture of the dog, who snarled at me just a little.  Ua explained that her dog, whose name is Kimmie Waiuli, recieved too much attention the day before from a bevy of keikis and had yet to regain her equanimity.   KW, as it turns out, is a rescue dog, so she may not have the transcendental calm attributed to Buttons.  On the other hand, she is doggone lucky to be affiliated with the lovely Ua.  That she was able to deal pleasantly with yours truly is ample testimony to her gentle nature!

   Out in the bay it was dark and bumpy.  While I was swimming, my mind was adrift with visions of the blog.  Kimmie, I thought, is for Mrs. Hillis, who is by no means a dog. (How we miss her!)  And Waiuli is for a beautiful fresh water pond near Hilo.

    I swam a good long time in the cool bumpy water without seeing jack, until towards the end I happened upon a

pair of  island jacks with the distinctive mustard colored spots gracing their flanks.

    As I prepared to exit, I was greeted by an adolescent night sergeant. Despite the swirling water next to the rocks, I was able to get a pretty good picture.  This is a a pretty common tidepool fish.  As a fry it has just a few black and silver vertical stripes and a yellow saddle.  If you look carefully, you can just see the last trace of the yellow saddle on this fish.

  And with that I bid you good bye, good fish and thank you for your patience.  And may all your hippogriffs have a horse's head.

jeff

Night Sergeant Adolescent.   Can you feel the surge?