Boosting the List at the Kailua Pier or Cecil B. DeMille Meets the Day Octopus

    

     Sandra and I started the day with a quick trip to Walmart.  I dashed through the store in my swimsuit, nabbing a much needed weed sprayer.  A few minutes later, Sandra was dropping me off at the pier.  At 8:15,  I was a bit ahead of the recreational swimmers.

The Barred Filefish Swims Onto the List, January 2022

     The water was cold today.  It is the last day of January, after all, so we shouldn't be surprised. On the plus side, it was just a little cloudy and there was a nice selection of fish.  On the way out, I spotted a pair of oval butterflies.  Shortly after that I found the first eel of 2022, a small Undulated Moray,.  He was very light in color, but the markings on his flank are unmistakable.  (See above) This was a smaller individual, but one must always remember that this is the eel most likely to  bite.  As I swam away from the eel I spied the first Peacock Flounder of the year, cruising ten feet down, over a patch of sand.  Such was the quality of the water, that if he hadn't been moving I never would have seen him. 

    Out in front of Hulihee's Palace I identified two fish that I really should have seen before now, Barred Filefish and Whitebar Surgeonfish.  The Barred Filefish, should be seen regularly.  With this in mind, I had told Sandra that it was the fish I most wanted to add to the list.  In past years we have seen the juvenile, black with a coat of tiny white spots, hiding among the corals, very near the base of the pier.  This day there was only a single fish, almost 100 yards from the pier.  It takes two to tango and I remain hopeful that we will see more barred filefish and that special juvenile in 2022.

    On the way back in I was blessed with a special treat.   Perhaps my favorite marine association is that of an octopus hunting with a Manybar Goatfish.   I saw the goatfish first, working the bottom with a male Bird Wrasse.  Immediately I found the octopus... their partner in crime.  I watched the trio for at least ten minutes.  In that time, the octopus changed colors and textures repeatedly,  and swam from one coral head to the next as the hunt progressed.

   It must be human nature to believe a special animal is larger than it is.  In the pictures and movies that I took today, it is clear that both the goatfish and the Bird Wrasse were significantly bigger than the octopus.  Or to put it another way, despite the tricks pulled by my imagination, this was a fairly small octopus.

   And what about the movies?  After watching the octopus for about a minute I decided that since my attempts at still  photography with the Day Octopus were invariably a failure,  I might try taking a short film.  The idea was that the moving octopus would betray his location.  Birdwatchers and rhinoceroses apply a similar principal.  If you can detect motion an animal is easier to locate.

 I took four twenty second films of the octopus.  One has to remember that the trick in watching a Day Octopus is keeping a sufficient distance away.  If one gets too close the octopus spooks and the show is over.  The first film is probably the best, but done without telephoto at a distance of ten or twelve feet, it challenges the viewer to find the small octopus as he sits atop his coral.  As you watch the video you can find the octopus atop the rock at about 7:30.  The next three videos were taken with full telephoto.  Frequently the photographer has difficulty keeping the moving octopus in the frame.  But there are some very good moments, where you see the octopus swimming and changing color and texture.

   As I swam away from the octopus I replaced the camera in the pocket of my suit,  only to discover a small, flat, rectangular object in the pocket.  Remember that run through Walmart?  Well, here was the credit card we used to purchase the weed sprayer.  As I swam along I pondered a new question...Do credit cards float?  I'm going to guess probably not, but i didn't take the card out to test the hypothesis.  Luckily, the card stayed where it was and we made it home with a few new fish for the year, and a wonderful experience with an octopus.

jeff

Th th th that's all, folks!