The Kiekis of Kahalu'u

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out.

    Over the past week we have been snorkeling a few times.  At Kawaihae we saw all the usual fish and critters.  We did, however, have a human interaction that was  both peculiar and unfortunate.  As Sandra and I entered on the far side of the ramp, there was a family fishing nearby.  When we were still near the LST landing platform, one of the boys cast over Sandra's head.  His father, who clearly needed a mental  health day,  then started yelling at my sweetie for interfering with his son's fishing. As the son of sea biscuit wouldn't stop his harangue, I swam back to shore and told him if he didn't knock it off I was going back to our car, get my Red Ryder 200 shot BB gun and return to shoot his eye out.  And I was bringing Ralphie for back up.  After all, it is Christmas time.  Mele kalikimaka, ...  (At this point if you are so inclined you may add your own pejorative expletive.)

     While the last bit was apocryphal, it was an unfortunate incident.  Ordinarily everyone gets along great at Kawaihae.

    Native fishing rights put to rest, we went on to see the usual nudibranchs and sea fans and caught a quick glimpse of the citron butterflyfish, which was needed of this year's list.  The Citron is a pretty unusual fish for Hawaii and this individual has now been in residence at Kawaihai for over a year.  If you need it for your list, the area makai of the platforms comes highly recommended.

    A few days later I went swimming at the pier.  Although we had a bit of a streak going in November, the last couple swims at the pier have been sadly unproductive.  I did get this nice shot of Christmastree Hydroids.  This small colony has been growing on the rocks by the cruise ship landing for well over a decade.  Before we discovered Kawaihae, finding a patch of hydroids was a special event.  Although this species and a couple others are seen under the platforms at Kawaihae Harbor, this bunch is

Hydra melekalikimakii  Hill and Gray 1997

especially pretty.  Hoover asks us to admire the black stocks.  Each of the white tufts, which John says resemble Christmas ornaments, is a single polyp.  Perhaps most interesting, he tells us that this hydroid can sting; the irritation may be intense and persist for several hours.  This little bit of nature lore may com in handy the next time you get in a dispute over native fishing rights. 

    Over the last five days there has been great surfing conditions, which meant that we weren't gong snorkeling. Finally, today the surf came down some and I enjoyed a swim at Kahalu'u.  Considering that tourists are now welcome on Hawaii Island, given a strict testing protocol which one would be foolish to attempt to circumvent, there were relatively few people plying the bumpy waters K Bay.  

   And yes, commensurate with the surf there was a significant current.  This was immediately apparent as I was swept out of the sand channel into the bay.  I found myself swimming continuously to maintain my position, which throughout the day made photography more of a challenge.  Luckily the water was fairly clear and there were some fish about.  

Island Goatfish juvenile,  Parupeneus insularis Kona, Hi.

    Right away, in the rocks near the entry, I saw a dragon wrasse.  He was of the chocolate brown persuasion about three inches in length.  As he was doing the sea debris flop in about three feet of water, I thought this might make a nice bit of film.  Unfortunately, by the time I triggered the camera he slithered under his rock, never to return.  Sort of like Charlie and the MTA.  Won't somebody give that fish one more nickel?  

   This is one of my favorite old songs, performed by a group from Seattle, and I entreat you to access the link and sing along with the Kingston Trio while you continue with the blog.  It may enhance your enjoyment to know tht all of Charlie's relatives live in towns of the Boston metropolitan area that were far from desirable at the time the song was written.  It could well be that paces like Roxbury and Jawaica Plain are now gentrified.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Jw_v3F_Q0

   Nearby, in the same group of rocks, was a not uncommon and very handsome juvenile, the keiki of what I have thought was the Manybar Goatfish.  This fish is seen routinely in Kona, but nobody, not Hoover, Randall. Stender, nor anyone on the web, has this fish pictured.  Lacking confidence in my identification, I wrote to John Hoover, the Visionary of  Volcano, to verify that this was indeed P. multifasciatus.  

Island Goatfish juvenile.  P. insularis Kahalu'u 12/20

 In the Ultimate Guide John Hoover writes eloquently about the adult multifasciatus, how he changes colors while you watch from black to purple to red, and how he hunts with eels and octopuses.  But he does not mention the juvenile.  Multifasciatus is widely distributed throughout the pacific.  It seemed reasonable that someone ought to know about this.

   Just as this blog was about to go to the printer, I received a reply from the VoV.  He sent me a page that showed both the adult Island Goatfish and the juvenile you see here.  We can now say this is the juvenile of the Island Goatfish, P. insularis.   In older books, like my copy of Shore Fishes... by Jack Randall, this species was known as the Doublebar Goatfish, P bifasciatus. .  

   Needless to say, I asked John Hoover where that page came from so you can rush out and buy it.  This is what he said: 

    It was from my iPad app, but unfortunately that one is no longer available. It couldn't keep up with Apple's changing technical requirements. However, it has been replaced by two iPhone apps. One for snorkelers and one for scuba divers. The snorkeler one omits the deeper dwelling fish. The scuba one

shows all the common fish, shallow and deep. And some rare ones too. The iPhone apps work beautifully on iPads. These are for Apple devices only. No Android versions planned. I just sent you a screenshot from the iphone app.‎Scuba Fish Hawaii on the App Store (apple.com)

  So if you have an iPad, I would advise that you rush out and buy this app.  Obviously I don't have an iPad and perhaps no rushing is required...maybe you do it from the comfort of your Apple approved desk unit.  Who knows?

    While the swimming was interesting, there being a current with which to contend, we went a while without seeing more than a small whitemouth moray poking his nose out of an Evermann's coral.  Heading over towards the Rescue Shelter, I ran across a very interesting group of baby fish.  Here, in a patch of light colored sand and rock, all within a few feet, I found six tiny rectangular triggerfish. These guys ranged from one to one and a half inches.  Although the colors weren't intense, in some instances the fish were almost translucent, they were marked precisely like adults.

Rectangular Triggerfish, tiny juvenile Kahalu'u December 20

    One might think that the middle of winter is an odd time for baby fish to hatch, but one can only assume that this was the case here.Those of us who snorkel around Hawaii have, at some point or another, been attacked by a female humuhumu guarding her eggs.  John Hoover confirms my recollection stating that these attacks by adult females and sightings of tiny, pale juveniles occur in the summer months.  In that respect, this was an interesting observation.  

    

Rectangular Triggerfish, tiny juvenile, face on. December 20

   

   

For those of you who have never been charged by a triggerfish, I am including this short clip from April of 2019.  here you see a lagoon triggerfish charging.  Both our humuhumus engage in this behavior.  Such is the nature of my computer files that this is the best I can do at this time... I know I have a video of a rectangular charging somewhere.  I think it gives you the general idea.  And I hope it gives you the willies. If you don't back off they will bite!

   One might have thought that after a creche full of infant triggerfish that we had had our fill of pediatric fishes.  But no!  As I made one final circuit up the middle I came upon a small coral where a juvenile Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse, he of the blue streak, was holding court.   This little blue streak is a perfect example of ontogeny recapitulating phylogeny.  The closely related cleaner wrasse of the Indo-

Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse juvenile and Orangespine Unicorns

Pacific is known as the blue streak.  the adult has little blue and the species is named for the juvenile, which looks much like the juvenile HCW.  

   I got one mediocre photo of the baby cleaner wrasse working on the gills of  an orange spine unicornfish.  There were several of these comical appearing fish at the cleaning station, all getting their gills worked on.  Perhaps the little cleaner was running a special on air filters.  After taking my still picture, I dove down to my handhold on a nearby coral stump and tried for a movie.  I didn't get the cleaner wrasse, but perhaps you will find the peek-a-boo movements of the unicornfish amusing.

May your days be merry and bright and may all your sharks be Great White,

jeff

Addendum:  After an exhaustive review of my movie files I found a better movie of the female Lagoon Triggerfish charging.  and here it is: