I Like Mike...Or Another Nudibranch Story

   Yesterday I received a text from our old  compañero, Bob Hillis.  Bob and Kim were not in Kona, but Mike Martino  was and he was hoping to go snorkeling in the short time we had available before we left for the mainland.    Four years ago we enjoyed some fish watching with Mike and Angie, so we set up a date for the following morning.  He was such a force that he was

The Familia Marino  Snorkel Kawaihae Harbor

dubbed aquaman.  As we have been preparing Casa Ono for a six week absence, we haven't been snorkeling as much as usual of late, so this was a very good thing.

    Mike arrived bright and early, along with Angie and their god-daughter, Melanie, a San Diego neighbor.  This trip was a sort of graduation (from high school ) gift for Mel.  What nice people!  Mike helped haul our gear up to the minivan where we greeted Angie and Melanie.  At 17, Melanie was tall, gangly, forthright and well presented and just a bit cute.  There wasn't a trace of the attitude that one fears to encounter in teenage girls.  Refreshing.

   We all piled into their rented minivan and Mike drove us north to Kawaihae.  The drive went fast as Mike regaled us with the details of a recent guys trip...he, Melanie's brother (a god-son) and Mike's brother had made their way to Bahia de Los Angeles on the Sea of

A beautiful blue sponge at Kawaihae, September 2019

Cortez, where they camped, rowed a home made boat and generally acted like sea going goats. One has to assume Angie gave him a good scrubbing when he made it back to Imperial Beach.  Suffice it to say, we spent some time reminiscing about our long lost best friends now living Utah.

    I had texted Hai, the godfather of Kawaihae, hoping that he and Lottie might join us. They weren't there, which wasn't a huge surprise given the late invitation.  Still hopeful that they might arrive, the  five of us made it down to the water.  Melanie is tall and fit; even though we hadn't grilled Mike about her swimming skills, we were confident that she would do well.  Mike had worked with Bob Hillis as a lifeguard in the California State Parks; if anyone could vouch for a swimmer he ought to be the guy.

Infant fish swim under the second platform  Watch your head!

     The water was warm, maybe 85 degrees, and surprisingly clear.  Melanie plunged right in and when I spotted a yellow margin moray poking his nose out of a joint in the landing, she dove down and looked at him from about five feet away.  It was her first moray, in fact it was her first Hawaiian swim,  so she didn't loose too many points for being timid.

     Out on the first pylon, I found a nice red cushion starfish.  Not uncommon at Kawaihae, the cushion star was a first for the Marinos.  Sandra spotted a mature scribbled filefish that vanished before anyone else could see it.  A pattern is developing here and I'm thinking she

A beautiful milletseed in clear water.  Kawaihae Harbor  2019

may be experiencing serial filefish flashbacks.  It takes a lot of guts for me to say this, given the side upon which my bread is buttered.   But here at the Beach blog, we call them like we see them...or don't see them.

    In any event, nobody saw a nudibranch, real or imaginary around the first platform, so we headed out to platform two. 
        
    Mike was pretty interested in the platforms as a mooring device and I think he had fun imagining a great big landing craft with its ramp down on the landing pad and tied up to the three platforms.  For the rest of us, the tide was rising and the huge fenders that the army has placed to fend off the landing craft were becoming an obstacle as we surfaced from our dives.

    On the second platform we ticked off the wire coral goby (it jumped when I pointed at it

Pink sponge at Kawaihae Second Platform

making Mel squeal with delight) and the feather duster worms.  We saw milletseed and saddleback butterflies and a porcupinefish.   And there were sponges in a great variety of

colors. Orange, of course, but purple, pink, black and turquoise.   But still no nudibranchs. 

    Both Sandra and Angie were interested in a school of small silvery fish.  I found them swimming in and out around the pillars.  Peter had mentioned infant fish in this location and when we got home we verified that this is what these little fish were.  for those of you playin' a drinking game at home...Life Fish!

    The third platform was more of the same so we headed across the harbor where we showed off the orange cup coral.  On the way back, a female swimmer passed our group

Painted Nudibranch at Kawaihae  "There you are!"

going in the other direction.  She was wearing a white dive cap, as our friend Lottie does, so I called out, "Lottie!"  She didn't respond, so I figured it must be someone else.  The mystery swimmer almost collided head on with Melanie.  They surfaced and  had a quick conversation and went their separate ways.

    Back at the platforms, I found Sandra, but as far as I could tell our group had dispersed.  Right away I spotted a tiny painted nudibranch.  Imagine one arm of a bobby pin.  Now cut it in half.  Paint this fragment gray and put it on a low pile carpet of the same hue. I called Sandra, and then couldn't find the damn nudibranch.  I searched for five minutes but he had apparently slunk into the low pile carpet of foulin organisms. 

    My beloved had had enough fun and said she was going in.   As far as I could tell, I was out there by myself.  

    On the middle of the second pylon I found a bigger painted nudibranch clinging to the pillar above the level of the fouling.  It was getting to be high tide, I was under the center of the platform and when I surfaced there was about nine inches of air between me and the

bottom of the platform.  This also accounted for the space of uncovered pillar.  I took a couple pictures and then yelled, "Is anyone here!"  And there was the lady with the white cap saying, "There you are."

   It was Lottie.  She explained that Hai was on shore, having forgotten his swim suit.  she came and looked at my nudibranch and then swam to the end of the platform, dove down and surfaced, saying, "Here's another one!"

    I swam around to the south end of the platform and Lottie pointed down to some old rope attached to a brace at the foot of the pillar.  When I am swimming out there, I frequently wonder, what would happen if I dropped my camera.  I had imagined that it was  fifteen to twenty feet deep.  So there I was.  What does one do when a charming young lady wants you to swim to the bottom? 

    Lottie dove down fifteen feet or more, pointed to a spot on the frayed, old rope and then it was my turn.  Luckily (or is it un-luckily) the weights enable one to keep going down, regardless of other issues.  I made it to the spot, at least three feet deeper than I have gone before, took a quick picture.  I held onto the camera, so I didn't need to go the additional couple feet to the actual bottom.  I swam back to the surface and confessed to Lottie that I didn't actually

Decorated Nudibranch  First Platform, Kawaihae Harbor

see a nudibranch.  So she dove again, held position and I followed her.  Not seeing anything, I took a photo of the spot at which she was pointing. 

     Well, we all survived the Peter Benchley Experience.   I asked her what she saw and she said that she thought it was the same one.  Which I presumed was a painted.

    We swam together to the first platform where Lottie immediately found a small decorated nudibranch halfway around a pillar.  As I was attempting a picture of that one, she called me, saying she had found a second more out in the open.  The camera and I did our best work on that one and then it was time to go in. 

     As we arrived at the landing, it was apparent that Hai and Mike had become close friends, standing deep in conversation on the landing pad, while Angie and Melanie reclined on the table.  It was bright mid day sun, so Sandra, being a good Hawaiian, had gone back to the park in search of shade.  

The Lottie Trap.  A pair of feather dusters cling to the landing pad.

   Before climbing out, my friend Lottie had one more thing to show me, a white feather duster at the base of the pad.  I dutifully dove down and took a photograph.  As I surfaced the back of my head passed perilously close to group of  sharp , pointy sea urchins that were clinging to the under side of the lip.  Lottie got a bit of a laugh out of my close call.

    This might be a good time to end the blog, but I've got one more piece.  After a short rest and a bite to eat, I went swimming off the stairs on the ocean side with the Marinos.  I had been led to believe that this was pretty good habitat with some good fish.  In fact, it was a dead reef with very little coral and fish.  the inside is infinitely better, but the ocean made for a refreshing swim.

    Kawaihae Harbor is truly the best kept secret.  

jeff 

to Pauline, Hai, Cory, Peter, Chuck

Dear Pauline,

    You probably don't remember me... we have corresponded by email a couple times.  I snorkel / live in Kona and have been watching nudibranchs with Hai On, who corresponds with Cory.  I also work occasionally with John Hoover.

    Today we went snorkeling at Kawaihae Harbor.  Hai's partner Lottie, also an ace nudi-finder, had me dive down on this animal.  It was about 15 feet deep, three feet deeper than I usually go.  I actually didn't get a very good look, took the picture where she told me to and i got a workable image.  I went through your site and did not find a turquoise nudibranch with yellow spots and red and white rhinophores and gills.  Can you identify this nudibranch?

     I have tentatively named it Lottie's Nudibranch,  Chromodoris lottii.   Whaddya think?

    I am leaving  for the mainland in two days, but I will watch faithfully for your reply.

 

Yours truly,

jeff

Jeffrey Hill, Kailua Kona

 

 

Lottie's Nudibranch, C. lotii.  Actually a very colorful painted.

 Hi Jeffrey,

Your animal probably falls within the range of variation for
Hypselodoris infucata.

http://seaslugsofhawaii.com/species/Hypselodoris-infucata-a.html

Best wishes,

Cory

 Hai texted back soon there after.  "Ha Ha.  This is probably Painted, which is quite variable."

   He didn't mention if his partner was pleased about her near miss with immortality.

jeff

 

 

   

Up Kaloloko

      Yesterday I was putting the finishing touches on a painted lady butterfly, one of the three  butterflies of the genus Vanessa that have been successfully introduced to Hawaii.  The Kamehameha butterfly is also of the genus Vanessa.  If one is a serious butterfly watcher and also a conservationist interested in preserving that endemic, it behooves one to

The paper mache painted lady butterfly perches in some red ginger.

be able to identify the butterflies that would be confused with the Kamehameha.  And so, even though it is unlikely that I will see those other butterflies myself, I'm going to have them in the upcoming exhibit.  

    There are a couple of interesting things about the painted lady.  Originally a North American butterfly, it is found all over the world. Hence, it is also known as the cosmopolitan.  It uses plants of the aster family as its host.  In North America, that includes thistles, among other things.  Who knew that thistles were asters?   A really interesting thing about the painted lady is that the European population migrates 14,500 miles annually.  During migration it pauses 6 times.  On each pause it goes through a life cycle.  So the butterfly that returns to Paris in the spring is the great, great, great, great  grandson, or granddaughter, of the one who left the previous autumn.  

The painted ladies of the Montmarte ala Toulouse Lautrec

   So if you see a painted lady in the Montmarte, it could be the great, great...descendant of a butterfly or the great, great...granddaughter of Toulouse Lautrec.   Ooh la la.

    With my mind full of lepidopteran trivia and my hands covered with paint, I looked up to my sweetie and said, "Why should we be sitting inside on such a beautiful day when we could be outside looking at butterflies?"  And I had just the place in mind. 

    Long ago I would go up Kaloko Drive, a street that climbs up from the Mamalahoa Highway in the Palisades neighborhood that overlooks the Kona airport.  Reaching for the slopes of Hualalai, the volcano that watches over Kona, we would park up around 3,500 feet, get out of the car and

Red Ginger growing wild in the Koloko forest Reserve

walk down the street looking for birds in the o'hia forest.  This was about twenty five years ago and these outings were moderately successful for birds, while simultaneously driving the rest of my family nuts.

    I have returned to Kaloko occasionally, but not in the past six years.  This time, as we drove up the street that was laid down in the virgin ohi'a forest, I noted lots of clearing.  A little had been replanted, but most just lay as open scars on the sloping land.  Sometimes there was equipment, like backhoes and tractors, but mostly just vacant lots.  
    
   Finally we got to our turn, drove in a couple hundred yards and voila, there were five cars parked on the side of a dead end road.  Compared to the lowlands, the air was cooler, but still plenty humid and there were plenty of puddles.  While we were changing into our hiking

Kahili Ginger growing beside the forest trail

regalia, a young couple emerged onto the macadam.  They were wearing shorts, t shirts and boots and allowed that the trail wasn't too muddy.  

    At the trailhead there is a sign, noting the forest trail and a bit further in a tiny kiosk with a few pictures.  After that, one is deposited onto a narrow trail, with occasional muddy patches that climbed through the forest.  It was around 9 AM by this time and the forest was quiet.  Quiet can be pretty nice, but when one is searching for birds a few twitters and chirps would be appreciated.  

    We walked up and back over the next hour and a half.  There were a few flowers, kahili ginger being the most dramatic, with a few flowering trees and a red ginger, as well.  In the ohi'a forest we saw a few of the signature red blossoms.  The most prevalent plant along the trail was the Hawaiian tree fern, which was growing profusely in this wet environment. 

Ohi'a Blossoms,  courtesy Hawaii Public Radio

 

     As you may know, but maybe you don't if you are not in Hawaii, the ohi'a is under attack.  A fungus is infecting the ohi'a causing "rapid ohi'a death".   ROD.  Scientists are at a loss as to how to treat this epidemic.  At the head of every trail is cleaning station, where hikers are asked to clean their equipment.   God willing this scourge will be brought under control.  And while He's at it, maybe he can get the land owners along Kaloko to stop cutting the ohi'a forest.

We saw one yellow bird, but our view was insufficient for identification.

Blackburn's Blue Butterfly.  Photo Hai On

    And what about butterflies?  We saw no large yellow or orange butterflies.  Within the limits of my weak botany skills, I didn't identify any koa or the Hawaiian nettle (mamaki) required by the Kamehameha butterfly.  We did see some tiny gray butterflies.  It was hard to get close to them and they never perched in our view.  

    A quick word about nomenclature.  The common names of butterflies are apparently not sanctioned by a scientific body. like the American Ornithologists Union, which meets every now and then and standardizes the common names for birds.  Hence, this little blue butterfly is is known as the Hawaiian blue, Blackburn's blue, Blackburn's sharptail and the koa butterfly.  

   This can be a problem.  Our

Hawaiian Blue Butterfly Perching

correspondent, Dr. Patrick Hart at UH Hilo, referred casually to the Asian swallowtail as the citrus swallowtail.  That latter name is most correctly applied to a different butterfly not found in Hawaii and, assuming anyone pays any attention to me, seduced me into a bit of a faux pas.  Patrick was correct, though; the Asian swallowtail is not infrequently called the citrus swallowtail, even though these two magnificent butterflies live in the same place in other parts of the world.  Just not here in the Sandwich Islands.    

     Back on the beach at Kawaihae Harbor, our friend Hai had told us that when he had seen Blackburn's blue butterfly it was tiny, about the size of you fingernail, assuming you don't have Samoan sized fingers.  He followed that up with pictures, sending us several photos of two different, tiny gray butterflies, which we are including here.   He had seen these in the

Unidentified tiny butterfly  photo by Hai On

forest near Waimea.  One is clearly Blackburn's and the other is yet to be identified.   Suffice it to say, Hai's ability to get close to and photograph small animals approaches the mystical.   In our sad case, it is impossible to say what we saw with any certainty.  

    As for the trail, it might be worth another visit in the dry season.  If you are our age, I would advise taking a walking stick and some insect repellent.  In any event, I'm sure you will enjoy the peaceful o'hia forest.

jeff