The Pearl Wrasse Returns to the Kailua Pier

If you don't want to end up like Snorkel Bob, stay out of the cloudy water.

   Just after we arrived home from vacationing in the PNW the swell came in.  Kailua Bay, with its north cusp extending well into the ocean, is usually protected from the ravages of a large swell as the predominant direction of swell is from the north, washing down around Maui.  This swell was from the south, however, and the sand was thoroughly stirred up.  I went snorkeling once and the sediment was really dense.  A few recreational swimmers were still going out, but for us snorkelers there was little point.  Not only was there
nothing to see, but one is constantly reminded that shark attacks are more likely in turbid water.  A fellow snorkeler reaffirmed this idea by telling me that the cloudy water was giving him the creeps.

   It wasn't until three days ago that I gave the pier another go.  The swell had subsided two days earlier and the water, while far from crystal clear, allowed ten to twenty feet of visibility.   Never the less, there wasn't too much in the way of interesting fishes.  Out past the one third mile buoy I saw a stationary swimmer.  Hoping that this meant there was something to look at, I made my way another twenty yards out only to find a rather pretty young lady playing with the test of a sea urchin.  She must have been a good swimmer,

All this one is lacking is a sea urchin test.  Then she'd be perfect.

because all she was wearing was a bikini and a mask...no flippers.  And the water there was fifteen to twenty feet, so she apparently had accomplished that free dive without the aid of fins.

    I asked her if she was looking at something special or simply dicking around with the sea urchin.  She smiled and said there was nothing to see.  If you look at our included photo, albeit of someone else, you will agree with me that this was, like, just her opinion, dude.  I thought about asking her if I could take her picture for the voyeurs that read the blog, but the #Me Too movement has taught even the most dense, among whom I take my place with pride, that you just don't do that sort of thing no mo'.

    And so I turned the army around and swam back towards the pier.  I didn't see anything of note until I was quite close in, at which point I saw a small pearl wrasse co-habiting with some juvenile belted wrasses and parrotfish.  This must have been during a period of unwarranted  optimism, because I had the TG 5 in hand and was able to rip off a five quick shots.  What you see here was the only shot that was remotely usable.  Remember, water clarity is the photographers friend and that was in short supply on this morning.

Juvenile pearl wrasse with keiki parrot and belted wrasse.  Kailua Pier June 2019

 

    This fish was about 6 inches long, about the size of one of those planted rainbow trout you might have caught as a young boy scout.  So by size, we can say this was a juvenile.  While some wrasses have three distinct patterns, juvenile, adult female and (thus spake Zarathustra) super male, the pearl wrasse has only two... juvenile/ female and super male.   As you can see, the juvenile is just as pearly as the adult female, if only half as large.  The adult female used to be an expected visitor to the

Female Pearl Wrasse april 2017 on the PAR

Ironman side of the pier, but I'm going to bet it has been two years since I saw one in this location...maybe more.   If you are a student of the blog, you might remember that I saw a pearl wrasse at Mahukona about two months ago, just before we went on vacation.

    My photographic record reveals that I have seen the super male pearl wrasse (which doesn't look pearly at all) at Kahalu'u and on the PAR.   The picture we are showing here was taken several years in the past at good ol' K Bay.  There were two males who emerged from behind a coral.  Heaven only knows what they had been up to because they were acting totally stoned.  Hence the amazing shot.  

    There is just a bit of a swell today, not big enough to attract many surfers, so this might be a good opportunity to take a dip at the pier.  Maybe the little pearl wrasse is still there.  Or maybe someone is hiding behind the restrooms getting stoned.  Or both.

jeff

Super male pearl wrasse  Kahalu'u September 2012  Anybody got some good seaweed?