Citron Butterfly: One More for the 2019 list

   On the eve of New Year's Eve, Sandra and I took what should be our Aloha Swim for 2019.  According to the fellow that does the weather on KHNL, the surf was arising.  With that in mind, we chose the least surfy place we could think of...Kawaihae Harbor.   We had contacted our most excellent friend and critter finder Hai, on the night before, hoping that he and the redoubtable Lottie might join us.  Unfortunately, Hai said he might see us up there, but that he would be surfing.  Bummer.

Citron Butterfly, Kawaihae Harbor, December 30, 2019

   We checked the tide table and arrived at 9:30, thinking that this would be a bit after the high tide. As it turned out, the tide was higher than we expected and we had to drive through a half foot of water to get out to the beach.  At the little park we located Hai's truck, and with a little effort, we were able to spot our friend on his surf board about 100 yards out in the ocean.  A couple guys at the park said that there had been surf fifteen minutes earlier, but while we prepared to go swimming there was no surf at all.

   Soon we were in the harbor, the water was cool and cloudy with lots of plankton.  To make a long story short, there was relatively little in the way of fouling organisms on the pylons and we didn't find any nudibranchs.   By the ramp where we enter,  I got a poor look and a very inferior picture of a banded coral shrimp.

   .On the good side, we did see a pretty uncommon fish.  There was one, or possibly a pair, of citron butterflyfish.  We had two brief encounters during which we had pretty good looks but did not get a great photograph.  However, one photograph does show the key field mark of this fish, the ventral fin

Three Spot Angelfish, Tulamben, Bali Novenber 2014

with the bold black and white stripe.  Without that dramatic flag of a fin, it might be a teensy bit difficult to say if it was a milletseed or a citron. It is very possible that my last sighting of this fish was in 2016, so this really was a great species upon which to end the year.   One thing that struck me, was the similarity of that ventral fin to the one proudly displayed by the three spot angelfish which we have seen in Indonesia.  I get the sense that butterflyfish and angelfish may share more DNA than many fish, but not all that much.  I think it makes for a pretty interesting comparison.

    While Sandra and I were enjoying our our shower, we watched Hai,.  He  was still riding his board 100 yards off shore...still waiting for a wave.  The only thing that had changed was that there was now a ten knot breeze blowing in from the sea., so the shower water was blowing back at an angle and there was a six inch chop on the previously flat ocean.  Sandra commented on how much she had enjoyed our swim, and we left wondering if our friend was ever going to catch a wave. 

Hau'oli makahiki Hou
jeff