An August Outing to the Pier and the Truth about Fugu

     Yesterday I went snorkeling at the Kailua pier.  The village was swarming with hordes of well groomed tourists.  This was surprising, since the last week has been very quiet here with little traffic

Our beloved beach community under a bruised August sky.

and a paucity of visitors.  We wondered if something was going on, but saw no signs of an event.  One was left with that question posed in children's book about fire engines...Where did they come from?  Where are they going?  I guess that's two questions.

    Anyway, the reason Sandra was dropping me off at the pier, aside from the fact that I can't get enough time swimming in the deep blue sea, was that she was assisting her friend Charlot at the library.  Charlot was teaching a group of ten ladies how to crochet.  Which I guess makes my sweetie the assistant crochet meister.  It also gave me an hour and a half to enjoy the warm summer ocean.

   Under a bruised sky, the type you read about in a creepy Steven King novel, there was a modicum of locals and a very few tourists cavorting in the shallows on the Ironman side of the pier.  You will

The Stripe Belly Puffer, Kailua Pier August 2019

recall that a week ago when I snorkeled this side, the water was virtually opaque.  Yesterday, it was fairly clear, with good visibility up to ten feet.  The lack of sun made my photographic subjects less vibrant, but at least one could see the fish.

  Around the fourth swim buoy I spotted a pair of stripe belly puffers about ten feet down.   One was rather large and the other about half that size. This is a species that more frequently appears singly.  With that in mind, I nabbed a picture of the duo.  They were on the bottom at this point and the picture is marginal.  I dove the big guy and I am including his picture here. 

   While I was floating in the warm water, I mused about puffers.  Specifically, I have been thinking about Canthigaster jacator, the Hawaiian toby.  This little puffer is fairly common at Kahalu'u, not uncommon at the pier, but much less prevalent at City of Refuge, where the water is deeper and faces the ocean directly.   Where this little puffer is super abundant is at Kawaihae harbor.  I believe it is no

Canthigaster jacator.  Kahalu'u 2018.  A moderately toxic individual.

coincidence that this puffer plus a resident porcupine fish or two, are found around those pillars.  If you are a big fan of Homer Simpson, you will hearken back to the episode where our hero insists on eating puffer fish at a sushi restaurant.  As it turns out, the sushi chef has never prepared fugu, the sushi name for puffer, before.  Homer is told too late and then spends the night contemplating his imminent demise.   Spoiler alert:  Homer survives the night.

   If one looks in John Hoover's remarkable Ultimate Guide, he notes that some C. jacator  rely on coral alone for their diet.  Thin soup for those tobies.  While others, and I'm submitting that this Group B is found at Kawaihae harbor,  eat all sorts of poisonous fouling animals like hydras and sponges.  Hence, I speculate that just like the nudibranchs that are on the high sponge diet, the pufferfish at Kawaihae are toxic to the max.  One can only assume that Homer's fugu did not come from Kawaihae. 

Now go do the fugu that you do so well.  Hedley Lamar, loosely

   Having exhausted my brain,  I continued on my swim.  There was nothing special in the deep but back inside I saw a nice pair of blacktail snapper, a lone male elegant coris and a veritable buffalo herd of teenage mutant moorish idos.  There had to be twenty idols in this group.  If you count the ones in my picture I think you come up with fourteen.. Trust me, there were at least six more.   

   The swim finished happily, no one got stabbed with a crochet needle and we all lived happily ever after.  Beware of the fugu and we will see you at the beach.  

jeff

On the fourteenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...