Juvenile Raccoons and Rockmovers

   Having recently had such a wonderful swim at Kahalu'u, I returned on Sunday fur another go.  Over two days, the conditions had changed:  the perfect blue sky now was a high overcast and the surf,

Yellowheaded Moray pretending to be an ostrich

virtually absent on Friday, was now high enough to send waves marching across the bay.  The water was still warm.  My new go to website, Tides4Fishing, places the temperature at 83 degrees.  However, there was a substantial current as one might expect with the waves pounding against the Menehune breakwater.

    Before I could even swim out of the entrance I had an unusual sighting.  A fairly large yellowheaded moray was attempting to hide under one of the large stones.  As you see in the accompanying picture, he had his yellow head tucked ostrich-like under the rock.  That distinctive dorsal fin, checked white and black, gave him away. If you look carefully you can make out wide, darker vertical bands on his body.

    This species is primarily nocturnal and I have seen him swimming during a night snorkel several

A Dragon Wrasse in profile.  Kahalu'u November 2019

times. In those instances he was swimming free and bared his sharp teeth to keep me at a distance.  Today he was in dreamland and it seemed best to let a sleeping eel lie.

    The bay itself was an infinity pool with a strong current running from the sea towards the mountain.  There were a few fish, including a large white bellied puffer and a pair of saddleback butterflies, but this part of the swim, for an old fellow like me, was mostly staying smart, keeping track of my strength and not turning into one of those lifeguard rescues for which Kahalu'u is famous.

   After half an hour of strong swimming, I headed back towards the entry.  There, among the rocks, I found several dragon wrasses flopping around, presumably imitating a piece of brown sea grass bobbing in the current.  It is impossible to pass up this unusual juvenile of the rockmover wrasse without stopping for a couple tries at a photograph.  On this day I got a two good ones.  This fish is in

A dragon wrasse doing the classic dead seaweed flop.

constant irregular motion and therefore difficult to catch with the camera.  Here you see one picture in profile and a second that may give you a hint of the bobbing and weaving for which the the dragon wrasse is noted.

    Associated with all these juvenile rockmovers were three or four adolescents.  These young fish are notable for the two prominent dorsal fins that look like antennae atop the head.  In addition to this physical trait, they still have a bit of the residual dragon wrasse behavior.  Its not uncommon to see them doing goofy kid stuff like standing on their tail.  Don't worry.  They will grow out of it, turn into adults, get a job and have babies.  

    After playing with the rockmover keikis it was time to head for the exit.  Just as I passed the lava barrier that separates the outer entry from the inner tidepool I spied two juvenile raccoon butterflyfish.  I have seen these less than a handful of times and the first time was less than five years

Adolescent rockmover still acting like a kid

ago.  John Hoover tells us that they live in tidepools, which for all intents and purposes, is what the inner part of the entry at Kahalu'u is; its hard to explain why I went thirty years without noticing them in this location.

   On this day the water was swishing in ad out with the wave action.  Suffice it to say there was plenty of particulate matter in the water rendering my photographs less than perfect.  Nevertheless, it was a heck of an opportunity, to which I took full advantage as I sailed back and forth with the waves

Older Raccoon baby, Kahalu'u, November 2019

and the fish across this tide pool which is roughly ten yards long.

    You will note that one of the two raccoons is a little older than the other, a bit bigger and more square.  The younger guy was much more triangular.  They both retain that black ocellus surrounded by light, bright yellow.  As these fish turn into adults they will lose that signature marking and there will be a continuous black crescent in its place.

    This afternoon at the shower, I met a couple from Healdsburg, a town about an hour north of the Golden Gate Bridge in the heart of wine country.  As old folks do, we discussed real estate prices, taxes and grandchildren.  Luckily, there was a pretty young thing who I was able to draw in to the conversation.  She will have to wait half a century before she is the recipient of Hawaii's reduced property tax (for the elderly kapunas).  In the meantime, she will have to make do with a being a babe on the beach in Kona.  Someone has to do it.

The wedge shaped Raccoon Butterfly juvenile with a bright occellus.

Jeff

One of our beauties .  A Saddleback Butterflyfish, Kahalu'u November 2019