Tiger Cowries at Kahalu'u

    As an older gentleman (and I use that term loosely) of the Caucasian  persuasion living in this tropical paradise, I am afflicted with skin cancers.  Two weeks ago my evil dermatologist convinced me to treat a handful of  pre-cancerous skin lesions with chemotherapy cream.  This medicine has the unfortunate side effect of creating a sunburn type rash which can only be treated by staying out of the sun until it goes away.  And that is my excuse for the hiatus in Kona Beach Blogs.

Tiger Cowrie, Kahalu'u  November 2021

    Yesterday morning we made it down to Kahalu'u.  As we arrived we greeted our friend Yasuko as she fastened the Reef Teacher Banner to an electric pole.  Ohayo goziemas!

    As we started to change into our winter snorkeling outfit,  the redoubtable Kathleen Clark arrived.  Although she was shepherding a couple young acolytes, she took time to smile and tell us how nice it was that we had returned   Awww.  Greetings accomplished, she also told us that Kahalu'u had not experienced a significant bleaching event during the past summer.  Of course, the Pocillipora branching corals, which are more sensitive to the stress of warm water, than other stony corals,  have been effectively wiped out at K Bay.  Parenthetically, I would add that this last summer the branching corals were mostly left unharmed at the pier, where they are making a modest comeback. 

    Soon it was time to get in the water.  The wet stuff was not as cold as I feared it might be and was fairly clear.  Mercifully, there was very little current.  I made it out to the middle, where many heads of  Evermann's coral continue to thrive.  There I spotted a small hermit, fumbled it into a depression,  and then saw a larger pale colored hermit.  Hoping for a picture, I discovered that the camera was set to take land pictures.  By the time I had adjusted the settings, I was unable to relocate the hermit crab.  

    As I searched, however, I looked under a ledge, where I found a large white cowrie with black spots hiding in the recess.  As far as I could tell, this was not a huge animal, but I was only seeing the top of the shell and it could have been larger than I realized.  The camera was now set to go and I nabbed two pictures of this Caucasian cowrie. 

   When I made it back to shore, Kathleen suggested that this might be a Tiger Cowrie.  Yasuko found the critter book and, with my pictures, we verified that this was indeed what I had seen.  This was a life cowrie for me. Cue the fireworks and pop the champagne.  

   You will notice that this cowrie was essentially white with large irregular black spots.  John Hoover

Star Eye Parrotfish,  Kahalu'u,  November 2021

tells us that at times there may be so many spots that the cowrie appears to be black.  This one had just a hint of orange.  Some Tiger Cowries have so much orange that one would say they are orange, as opposed to white. Since tigers have stripes, not spots, I assume that it is the orange color that gave the Tiger Cowrie its common name.  John says that in Hawaii this species is usually found below ten feet.  Elsewhere in the Pacific they range into the intertidal zone.  Our cowrie was two feet below the surface.

    You may recall that about six months ago we reported a friend seeing a Tiger Cowrie at Kahalu'u.  Mrs. Clark took time away from her water analysis to tell us that not so long ago she had seen two Tiger Cowries in the bay engaged in such a way that she thought they might be preparing to make the two headed mollusc. Virtually all snails are bilaterally hermaphroditic, so the sex act involves each fertilizing the other in passing, as it were.  Morris Fitzcowrie and Cowrie Fitzmorris.  Or something like that.  The Deaconess of K Bay was hoping that the specimen I observed might be a result of that coupling.

Here's lookin' at you, kid.

    Word play aside, it seems like Tiger Cowries are becoming more prevalent at Kahalu'u.  If you need this species for your list a swim or two at K Bay would be warranted.

     The Tiger Cowrie was the only unusual species I saw.  But I did see a very handsome Star Eye Parrotfish.  I hope you find these two picture entertaining.  Even though this parrot is far from uncommon, the pink asterisk radiating from its eye never fails to amuse.

    That's the report from the beach for today.  

 jeff