The Carnation Nudibranch and the Crescent Octopus

   As we promised in our last blog, yesterday Sandra and I made the drive up to Kawaihae.  It was another beautiful morning, not a cloud in the blue sky.  We arrived early and, as the grounds keepers

Hai on the landing ramp, kawaihae Harbor and Kohala Mountain

were attending to the picnic grounds, we parked facing the ocean; a front row seat where the sea  meets the Kohala coast. 

        As we waited for Peter and Marla, what should I see in my rear view mirror, but that distinctive red jeep convertible with a surfboard lashed to the top, the chariot of Hai On.  Sure enough, Hai and Lottie emerged and started chatting with the head groundskeeper, Range, who was keeping a watch over the lady with the lawn mower from the tailgate of his truck.  In a few minutes, we were joined by the Kroppjes and the six of us were headed across the lot and down to the harbor.  As we made the stroll I commended Peter,soto voce, for inviting Hai, critter finder extraordinaire.

   The tide was high, making it easy to sit on the landing platform, put on mask and fins and drop into

The banded coral shrimp, at home on the landing ramp.

the cool water, which for Kawaihae was fairly clear.  Before we headed out, Hai found us a coral shrimp harboring in a joint on the landing platform.  One could dive down a foot, hang on, peer underneath, and in a moment the banded coral shrimp would make a brief appearance.  Its hard to get tired of seeing this comical creature with his handsome orange stripes and ultra-long antennae.

   Soon the six of us were snorkeling around the first platform.  When everyone is a competent swimmer and on the same page, six is not too many.  In other circumstances, this number could mean complete confusion. 

   Hai had seen a small black frogfish on this platform and was searching for it when Peter made the first sighting of the day.  This was a fairly large nudibranch which Hai had seen previously and had sent pictures to Peter.  Only moments earlier, I had looked right at it, perched on the end of a branch of cauliflower coral, and thought that it was only the coral tip under stress.  Having a search image for the beast may have given Peter an edge.  Or maybe he is just damn good at spotting wildlife.

   As you know, I give myself some credit for getting fish watching accepted as a sport, similar to bird watching.  I don't think anyone used the term in print before I did,  At that same time  Jack Randall, the dean of saltwater ichthyology, thought that I was full of beans for suggesting it.  I say

Dendrodoris krusensternii, The Carnation Nudibranch

this, only to point out how different fishwatching, that is trying to see as many saltwater reef fish world wide, is from critter watching, which might more scientifically be termed invertebrate watching.

    The problem is this:  There are infinitely more invertebrates in our waters than there are species of reef fish...so many that common names just don't work.  A trained birdwatcher can pick up John Hoover's Ultimate Guide,  learn the 200 fish of the Hawaiian reefs in a few days and he is set.  Cory Pittman and Pauline Fiene maintain a website, Seaslugs of Hawaii.  They list over 450 species...of nudibranchs!  So many that I tired of counting them, much less look at the pictures.  John Hoover, in his critter book, shows a handful of these and lists common names.  But lets face it, common names just don't work.  And no mere hobbyist could approach invertebrate watching in the same way that one becomes a birdwatcher.

   Hai spends so much time looking at the nudibranchs, mostly in Kawaihae harbor, that he must be developing quite a list.  He is so smart that I think he can refer to his list from memory.  I fear that he isn't writing it down, although he is now in contact with Cory Pittman (he of Seaslugs of Hawaii) so maybe there is a written list.  Let's hope so!  And  as he goes along, Hai gives common names to some of the nudibranchs that he sees (and John Hoover hasn't named.).  This one is, Dendrodoris krusensternii. While almost an impossible mouthful, this is how one invertebrate zoologist identifies it to his colleagues.

A beautiful feather duster worm, Kawaihae Harbor July 2019

     Hai has dubbed it the Carnation Nudibranch, for its floral appearance.  Works for me.    

    Pittman and Fiene note the colorful tubercles and draw our attention to those bright blue dots, which apparently mimic the blue on a highly toxic sea hare, which is sort of like a nudibranch.  In addition to capturing those blue spots, I hope you notice that I got a photo in which you can see the antenna-like rhinophores and, at the aft end, some pretty fancy external gills (which give the nudibranchs their name).

    Despite looking for a very long time, Hai did not find the small black frogfish, which he said was an inch long and the same shade of black as the numerous black cave sponges.  Not only that, after Peter found that spectacular Carnation nudibranch, we did not see another nudibranch of any kind.  We did see some nice Hawaiian dascyllus and some fine feather duster worms.  The latter are almost plant-like, being anchored in one spot by their calciferous tube.  In one instance I was taking a series of pictures, moving ever closer when Presto!, the fancy flower disappeared in an instant into its tube. Obviously, these worms are animals, no matter how plant-like they may appear.

We photographed this handsome duster an instant before he disappeard.

 Hai took us on a swim across the bay to a reef about 100 yards toward the quay of the port.  He
pointed out an endangered specimen of rice coral.  And Sandra found a spectacular red cushion starfish.  Later, over lunch, Hai told us that there are imminent plans to destroy that part of the reef and put in a large recreation boat launch and pier.  We wish him luck in his effort to prevent the reef destruction,or, alternatively, to get the government to designate another protected beach and reef just to the south.






                                             🐙  🐙  🐙  🐙  🐙  🐙  🐙  🐙  🐙  🐙  🐙  🐙

     With Peter's encouragement I have taken a more studied look at the octopus that Andrew found and directed us to at Kahalu'u.  As you will recall, this octopus had unusual coloration and it was

being actively attacked by a rockmover wrasse.  I am reprinting the picture of the rockmover attack to

The crescent octopus, O. hawaiensis.  Kahalu'u July 2019

demonstrate two points.  First, the fish is obviously harassing the octopus, something we never see.  The second is a defining coloration.  Look carefully and you will note a white crescent halfway between the eyes and the the tip of the mantle.  This is the key fieldmark of the crescent octopus.  This species is, according to Hoover, relatively common at night.  It is our thought that this poor fellow was out in the daytime because he was stressed, hence vulnerable to the wrasse.  In any event, we have put a name on him.  As there are so few Hawaiian octopi, he gets a common name.  His scientific name is O. hawaiiensis. 

Sandra's bright red cushion starfish!

 

A second look at the Carnation Nudibranch, including the gills.

The Octopus and the Sailfin Tang Set Sail in Pea Green Boat

     Yesterday Sandra and I went swimming at Kahalu'u.  We went down after our new handyman, Dan, replaced a couple cabinet hinges and formulated a plan for replacing a portion of the fence that keeps one from stumbling into the garden when he arrives home late at night.  If it wasn't for all the rain, the fence wouldn't rot.

A very small octopus.  Kahalu'u 2013

     It wasn't raining yesterday morning.  In fact, it was a glorious Hawaiian day and K Bay was
packed with tourists.  The parking  lot was full with those that had arrived in their rental cars and they were augmented by a mob from the cruise ship.  If its Wednesday its cruise ship day.  So I guess yesterday was Wednesday.

    A good portion of the mob was already in the water, engaged in the art of full contact snorkeling, so young Ms. Gray and I were required to thread our way through several yards of thrashing humanity to achieve clear water.  Immediately we were rewarded with a very small octopus.  This brave hobbit of an octopus was observing the comings and goings from the safety of modest rock, which, given his diminutive size, did a good job of providing refuge.

   Our regular readers will recall that just last week we saw an octopus at Kahalu'u, not far from this very spot.  I can almost remember the first octopus I saw here.  It seems like this noble cephalopod is becoming more common at Kahalu'u, even as the coral diminishes.

    At this point, I will tell you that our dear friend Peter, both scientist and astute observer of nature, in the style of a fierce, fish watching hobbyist, thinks that last week's holy ghost may be a new species for Sandra and myself.  Certainly the colors were different than any day octopus I have seen in the past, flashing some orange.  And it was behaving differently.

Manybar Goatfish hunting with day octopus,  Black Sand Beach 32013

     Not only that, but it attracted a rockmover.  Its not so unusual to see a variety of fish hunt with a day octopus.  We have seen a couple species of goat fish and a few eels engage in this behavior.  And, if memory serves,  a small ulua.  But this rockmover looked like it was, in the spirit of the Toreador from Carmen, attempting to stick the muleta in this octopus's heart, the better to dine on his molluscan flesh.  I have seen enough day octopi to say with some certainty that they do not attract that sort of attention from your average wrasse.  Hence, there was definitely something different about this animal.  Wrasses and puffers attack vulnerable sea cucumbers, like the sand sea cucumber, when they make the mistake of appearing on the reef during the day; the myriad of usual sea cucumbers attract no attention at all. It is my contention that the rockmover was helping Peter make the distinction, by pointing out that this was not a day octopus and hence vulnerable to attack.

    I will leave it to you to look at last week's octo-pictures, but I am including a picture of a goatfish hunting with an octopus from days gone by to illustrate this behavioral point.  Later today we are swimming with our scientific colleagues, Peter and Marla and I plan to confront them with John Hoover's critter book over lunch at the Kawaihae Bar and Grill.  With luck we will come away with a diagnosis on last week's octopus, discuss how small an octopus can be to be classified as a day octopus, and maybe see something new at Kawaihae.

    The rest of the swim was pleasant.  It being summer, the water was a perfect 85 degrees.   We

didn't see any remarkable species, but we did enjoy an interlude with a pair of sailfin tangs.  You will recall, that this species invariably appears as a mated pair, with one fish being at least 10% larger than the other.  In this case, the larger fish was rather languid, and unfurled its handsome fins to provide this nice look.  With luck, your Genoa jib will set so handsomely as you sail the waters of the summer sea.

jeff






      The Owl and the Octopus
       By Edward Lear (loosely)

The Owl and the Octopus went to sea

   In a beautiful pea-green boat,

They took some honey, and plenty of money,

   Wrapped up in a five-pound note.

The Owl looked up to the starfish above,

   And sang to a small guitar,

"O lovely Pussy! With arms aplenty!

    What a beautiful Pussy you are,

         You are,

         You are!

What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

Kahalu'u ala Familia

    A few days ago, Shawn returned from the outing to Mahukona unsatisfied.  He had forgotten his equipment back here in Kona and, even though it was after 2 PM, he was eager to go for a second swim, and he knew where he wanted to go: Kahalu'u.

Yellowtail Coris, juvenile and intermediate, Kahalu'u August 2012

    After our excursion that morning, Sandra and I had returned to the ranch, had a small lunch and a long nap.  Thus rested, we were happy to agree to accompany Shawn, while Marissa and Andrew had
showers and naps.  We threw Shawn's gear, still nicely packaged in a jaunty cranberry colored Snorkel Bob's bag, into the trunk of his rented Camaro.  I scrounged through the pile of drying snorkel equipment, extricated my mask and fins and my wet shirt.  For trunks I grabbed a dry set from the emergency bag that we keep in the back of the Honda.

   Down at Kahalu'u things looked pretty good: it wasn't raining, the tourists were leaving and the tide was sufficiently high.  I dumped out my equipment and started to get ready, only to find that I had allocated to myself the mask we were loaning Shawn's mother.  Suffice it to say, the mask that fits a woman with a small round forehead doesn't quite make it on a pumpkin head like yours truly; there was a gap of two or three millimeters over my brow.

Pearl Wrasse female, Kahalu'u  July 2019

    Those of you who know me are aware that, once put into motion, I am not easily sidetracked.  So I cinched the strap down tight and, although it was pinching my temples to a remarkable degree, the mask didn't leak.

    Over the subsequent half hour Shawn and I had a nice swim, seeing a large mustard colored yellow margin moray, a fine whitemouth and an intermediate phase yellowtail coris.  This latter was the only blog worthy individual, but he proved elusive as far as photography was concerned.  Suffice it to say, the tiny mask did not improve my photographic abilities.   This fish had a white nose, a residual white stripe on his forward body and a yellow tail.  Summer is the time to see these adolescents and I had been looking forward to this encounter.

Dragon wrasse from behind.  Kahalu'u July 2019

     I'm including a picture from another time for your enjoyment.  You will recall the red juvenile with the white stripes that novices insist is a "Nemo" type anemonefish.  And the somewhat less common intermediate, who retains some of those vertical white stripes, but now with blue flanks and a yellow tail.

 
    Yesterday, having experienced the joys of K Bay, Shawn was Jonesing for a return visit.  Although the surf was coming up, we got all the snorkel equipment, towels and family members into the car and made it down to the bay.  It was 10 AM on a Saturday (and the usual crowd filtered in) and the parking lot was full.  Shawn nabbed a spot just as it was vacated and Sandra and I parked in one of the vacant alternate spots.

   We fought our way around the inevitable Saturday party and the five of us reconnoitered outside the entry.  As we started into the bay we were faced with a current so strong that it was almost as if we

Andrew's amazing octopus hugs a rock  Kahalu'u July 2019

were in an infinity pool.  Fifteen minutes of hard swimming got us halfway to the breakwater and to our first reward: two large pearl wrasse females who swam with us for several minutes.  They were colorful fish.  I was really taken by their royal blue, red and white pectoral fins.

   We were all getting tired so we started working our way backwards while swimming slowly into the current.  After a few minutes of this I found a brown and white dragon wrasse.  I'm including here my best effort at a picture of this fish.  Please keep in mind that all these pictures were taken while battling a substantial current.  Immobility on the part of the photographer was simply impossible.   What you see is the best I could do on this day.

The pesky rockmover wouldn't leave the octopus alone.

   As I was working for the best shot, I saw Andrew waving his hand while keeping tabs on his find.  And what a find it was!  Andy had located a small day octopus in about four feet of moving water.  The octopus was either hunting with, or being harassed by a small rockmover.  Unlike most day
octopi, this fellow had plenty of butterscotch in hsi pattern and he  threw up bullleyes of gray, white and caramel.  We followed him for a while, enjoying his different texters and colors.  At one point he hunkered down in the cleft of a  dead coral, but contineud to watch with a periscope...his eyes were extended on a virtual stock so he could keep tabs on that pesky rockmover.

    By the time we were finished with the octopus it was time to go in.  Watch out for pesky rockmovers and strong currents.

jeff 

    

Snorkeling with Shawn's Mom

  Our company arrived at the beginning of the week.  My nephew Andrew has been swimming with us here in Hawaii since he was in knee pants.  Well, I guess everyone in Hawaii wears knee pants, but you know what I mean.  Shawn, his husband, visited us with Andy a year or so ago.  Shawn's mother, Marissa, was new to us.  She grew up on an island off Naples and then in San Pedro, Ca., so she has had lots of

Orangespine Unicorn Tang juvenile.  Look ma!  No orange spines.

experience with the ocean.

   Never the less, I was pleased when we took our shake down snorkel, to find that she handled herself with confidence.  We went snorkeling in front of the King Kam Hotel.  She actually beat me out of the Inner Harbour and when she was bashed around by the waves out in the bay, allowed as how it made it more fun.

    It was mostly usual suspects, but in the turbulent water just inside the jetty, I spotted a small juvenile orangespine unicorn tang.  One is always interested in what the camera might reveal, things that are missed by the naked eye.  In this instance we see that while he was swimming in the cloudy water, he looked to be the spitting image of an adult, the juvenile lack the orange caudal spines that give the species its common name.  Pretty cool find, in my humble opinion.  

Opelu and cleaner wrasse.  This is what opelu really look like.  Ironmanside 2013

   With the group brimming with confidence, we went north yesterday to Mahukona.   Its always a problem for Sandra and I, when we have snorkeling guests, to make sure that we don't forget something.  In this case, Shawn left all his gear back at Casa Ono.

    With a plan to trade off,  we got down the ladder and headed out with Andrew and Marissa to the spot just this side of the small lighthouse where the school of pyramid butterflyfish reside.  On the way, we spotted a bridled triggerfish swimming in the depths, as is their won't.  The big fellow gave everyone a good look, albeit at a distance.

   At the same time, we saw that group of milletseeds that is usually, but not always, at the corner. of Mahukona Bay.

   Perhaps commensurate with a big incoming tide, there was a bit of a current to contend with, pushing against us from the south.  Never the less, 

Goldrim Surgeon  Mahukona July 2019

our group made it to the pyramids and enjoyed a good look.

    As we started our swim back, Andrew spotted a couple opelu.  Soon we saw several schools of these fast blue jacks.  The English common name for these fish is mackerel scad, but like palini and ulua, the native name is the one we all use.  I am including a picture that I took a few years ago when a school of opelu stopped at a cleaning station.  Although those of you who follow the blog have seen this picture before, it bears repeating, as the picture in the field guides poorly represents these beutiful fish.

  At this point there was a bit of a current pushing against us, courtesy of a wind that had sprung up after we entered the water.   They don't call it Waika-blowah for nothing.  Anyway, all us chickens made it safely back to the ladder on the pier.  There we were greeted by Shawn who told us that someone had generously loaned him their snorkel and fins.  While we were on our quest for the

Are you a hermit crab super sleuth?  claw and leg of the elegant hermit.

pyramid butterfly fish, Shawn had been tooling around inside the bay.  His treat had been a flowery flounder who led him on a magic carpet ride.

    With everyone happily ashore, I decided to stay in the water for another fifteen minutes.  Our friend Peter had told me of rock damsels living in the boulders on the seaside of the pier, so I went into that area.  I didn't see the rock damsels, but I did see Achilles' Tang (which I have declared a rare fish, presumably due to unregulated spear fishing) a Gold rim tang, a small school of spotted surgeons.   In addition, there was a large shell on top of the coral that had to be the home of a hermit crab.  I got down close with the camera and was able to get a pretty good photo which showed handsome orange tips to the walking legs and a finely spotted pair of claws.  No matter what I tried I couldn't coax him to come out and say hello.  But look at the picture...there is no doubt that this is an elegant hermit crab, however recalcitrant.

Redbar Hawkfish, Mahukona, July 2019 Often seen, rarely photographed.

    My friends and family were waving to me from the pier, so I decided it was time to get out.  At the very foot of the ladder I spotted a shell and then suddenly the waving legs of a cone shell hermit,
affectionately, in our family, known as stripey.  I was a bit slow on the draw and did not get a very good picture.  But I was able to retrieve the shell and pass it up to Sandra.  She and the boys put it in a puddle and while we watched as this magnificent creature made an appearance.  so everyone got to see the magnificently striped legs, thus providing the sauce for the next days adventure.   

 

A magnificent Cone Shell Hermit Crab.  "Stripey."  December 2014

The Early Bird Catches the Octopus

    This week I went snorkeling at Kahalu'u two days in a row.  While the first outing was definitely more productive, blog-worthy if you will, combined they gave us a good view of what K Bay has to offer in July of 2019.

A Star Eye Parrot Flashes a Toothy Grin.

    For the first snorkel, I arrived early, hitting the warm water at 8:30.  The first thing I saw was a Christmas wrasse who went screaming by while I was still in the entry.  I had just gotten organized when I spotted a small octopus.  She was mostly tucked in under a rock about four feet down. I sang to her and took a couple pictures, knowing all the while that the only person that can make the day octopus visible in a photograph is Gail DeLuke.  So I don't have a picture, just a fond memory of her brown and white head and, later on, a last glimpse at a tentacle as she tucked herself safely away.

   Shortly after that encounter I started following a star eye parrot.  I took a few pictures and I'm including one that makes Mr. Stareye look like  a deranged Jack-O' Lantern.  One has to find his amusement where he can.

    What with spotting the octopus, it had already been a good swim, but on top of an Evermann's

When you see and empty triton, give it a bit of a twist.

coral I spotted a fairly large triton shell.  That shell didn't get there by itself.  I turned the shell slightly, maybe just twenty degrees, and sure enough a wonderful, large blood crab made her appearance. This was a big, hairy crab and I enjoyed her immensely.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.

The Bloody Hermit Crab.  Dardanus sanguinocarpus,  Kahalu'u  July 2019

  My two day experience empowers me to say that the bay is full of juvenile Pacific Gregories.  Way back in the day, before John Hoover produced his encyclopedic tome, illustrating all the fish a snorkeler is likely to see, be they adults or juveniles, I had a bit of a correspondence with the Dean of salt water ichtyology: Jack Randall.  I had seen this juvenile gregory with her shiny blue dorsal line and yellow caudal peduncle and I wanted to know what it was.  I sent Jack a letter and included a hand drawn illustration, enhanced with colored pencils.  It is possible that felt tip markers hadn't been invented yet.

Pacific Gregory Juvenile, Kahalu'u  July 2019

    Perhaps my art work wasn't up to snuff, but by return post Jack informed me that 1. There wasn't any such fish.  2. Lay off the LSD.  and 3.While your at it, buy my new book.

   Now, through the miracle of point and shoot underwater photography, you can see what I was apparently unable to convey to Dr. Randall, back when plesiosaurs could be seen regularly in the surf at White Sands Beach.

   This damsel was in a little pond, most of the way out towards Surfer's Rock.  There was a nice handhold on a chunk of dead coral, so I was able to get a little stability.  And she was cooperative enough, in her flitting, coquettish sort of way, to give me dozen chances or more.  Here is my best effort.  If you go to K Bay tomorrow, I can guarantee this fish.

Ornate Wrasse Juvenile, Kahalu'u.  Shiny is as shiny does.

    Another fish I can guarantee is that chartreuse capped juvenile of the freckled hawkfish.  I saw no
fewer than five on the second day.

    The third day was more of the same, minus the blood crab and the octopus.  There was one nice addition, a fine juvenile ornate wrasse.  This fish was in the same enclosure as the Pacific gregory had been the day before.  She wasn't nearly so patient with me, though.  I only got  three tries and this is the best.

   As it happened, that second day was a Saturday.  So, no surprise, there was a function going on in the shelter, relegating me to an outdoor table.  On my way to change after swimming, I passed a small group of very large men cooking in two enormous gas powered woks.  What they had in wok number two looked a lot like that mainstay of my childhood, Dinty Moore's beef stew.  It smelled a bit like kalua pork, but even more toothsome.   The cookers seemed friendly enough, so I bucked up my courage and asked what it was. The head chef replied that it was porky peas.

Like this.  Only with a few peas.

   No matter my looks of longing and excessive salivation, I was not offered a sample.  So when I got home, I looked up the recipe.  All I can say is that what they had in that wok  bore no resemblance to what the internet had to offer.  Porky peas, according to the Mr Google, is like Philippine pea soup with the ham bone thrown in.  This was something brown, rich, fragrant and full of promise.  Like Beyoncé.  Gotta get me some of that.  If only I can find it.

 

So what would you rather look at, Beyoncé or a bloody hermit crab?

On the other hand, little Miss Gregory can certainly shake her tail.