The Dude Abides or What is the life span of a coral croucher?

    We have been rather busy lately, what with restocking the larder, a never ending bout of presto. 

automotive repairs and cleaning.  Ordinarily cleaning is just one of those things you do every day and doesn't involve so much time that it makes the list.  But we are expecting guests toot suite, in the persons of my nephew Andrew, his husband Shawn and Shawn's beloved mother, Marissa.  As Shawn refers to his mama as a little Italian lady,  I suppose the correct word relating to their imminent arrival would be presto.

   Anyway, Sandra is doing all she can to prepare for Marissa's arrival.  This involves lots of cleaning.  And not a little bit of worrying.  Apparently it has been Marissa's lifelong dream to come to these very Sandwich Islands. As many of you know, it has rained most of this week and we wonder if tempo brutto is what Shawn's mother has in mind.  Most people, when they think of coming to Hawaii envision Christmastime in Waikiki, not hurricane season in Kona.  Mama mia!

A blue eye damsel swims around an antler coral.  Kailua Bay June 2019

  Anyway, we headed to the pier on Wednesday, cruise ship day, and the sea going rats were creating such havoc that my taxi driver, the redoubtable SKG, was so overwhelmed that she found a new alternative for off loading, the parking lot at the Fish Hopper Ristorante.  As I made my way down
Alii Drive to the pier, I thought to myself,  "How much difference is there between a fish hopper and a coral croucher?"  Not bloody much, right?   With that in mind, I made my way through the maddening crowd and over to the beach in front of the King Kam Hotel.  It's summer, so the water in in the Inner Harbour is only a little cold.  Some might even call it cool.  Regardless, it was almost warm as I approached the little jetty that protects Kamehameha's heaiu.  It was calm and warm as I entered the welcoming waters of Kailua Bay.

    Out in the bay, I was pleased to see that during my hiatus, now perhaps nine weeks, the coral on the Paul Allen side has flourished.  There were several good examples of Pocillopora eydouxi thriving in the bay.  This is the bigger, leafier variety of cauliflower coral, actually called antler coral.   Virtually all the antler coral bit the dust a few years ago and these guys look more like romaine .   We have two other species of meandrina, it is actually known as cauliflower coral and is home to such specialties as the speckled scorpionfish.  The smallest is damicornis.  The common name for this species is lace coral, although it looks more like a cauliflower than the other

The Wrong Lindsey

lettuce on steroids.  If we pray hard enough, perhaps we can ward off the hot sea water and in a a couple years our antler coral will be fit for a moose.  Right now I'm grateful for the specimens that we have
which I loosely call cauliflower coral.  The medium sized two.  In my opinion.  

    As I admired the lovely cauliflower corals, I could not help thinking of the warning that appeared in my email on Tuesday.  This admonition came from Lindsey Kramer.  Lindsey is the NOAA  appointed organizer for Eyes of the Reef.  Her email yesterday heralded an oncoming bout of hot water and implored us to report signs of coral bleaching.  As I looked upon the handsome thriving antler coral, I couldn't help posing the question, "What is the difference between Lindsey Kramer and Lindsey Graham?"  The answer: Lindsey Kramer is a charming  young marine biologist and Lindsey Graham is Donald Trump's bitch.  Thank goodness we have the right Lindsey here in Kona.

    With that happy thought percolating in my bright blue brain, I reconnoitered the late Paul Allen's canal and the coral that has been home to the eponymous croucher for nigh on a year.  It took several dives, but I finally spotted the croucher.  On the next dive, I was able to get a solid grip and get the TG 5 close enough to the coral to meter and focus on this peculiar fish which is so adept at hiding in the recesses, between the leaves of the meandrina. 

    What you see here is by far the best picture of a coral croucher that I have produced.   You see virtually the entire fish, his stubby pectoral fin and his little eye, gazing up at you with a sense of foreboding.   I want to give

The Coral Croucher deep between the leaves.  Kailua Bay June 2019

credit to our friend Hai, who has taught me by example to get closer and be patient.  Hai is the master of nudibranch photography and he may well have a better photo of the coral croucher.

    Now that we have established that this peculiar little fish is a permanent resident in this one isolated coral, a question comes to mind.  Did the coral croucher in its youth swim to this coral head or did it arrive as an embryo, find itself in a suitable habitat and simply stay put.  As you will recall, such is the way of waifs in the tropical oceans.  As usual, the internet in this instance is mostly full of aquarists pondering the danger of a sting from their newly acquired pet.  There are some reports of coral crouchers never leaving their home, so this chicken and the egg question is not without merit.

    I'm now confident, that like the Dude, our coral croucher will continue to abide in his home here by Paul Allen's canal.  The croucher abides.

  jeff