With surf conditions good for snorkeling, it still took a couple days for the tide progression to advance to the point where it was deep enough for a morning entry at Kahalu'u. For those of you whose life is not
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| Raccoon Butterflyfish, juv. Kahalu'u March 2023 |
tied to the tides (did you like that?) the high tide on a given day is just about an hour later than it was the day before. Yesterday the moon cooperated and I found myself schlepping into the water about 8 AM.
At this hour I had the entry to myself, which was lucky because it was still pretty shallow, narrow and rocky. Doesn't that sound inviting? In a minute I was through the entry and I was immediately rewarded with a juvenile Raccoon Butterflyfish. As you may note on the picture, this juvenile has an additional spot on the dorsal fin. In the adult that spot is incorporated into the curved line that runs upward in one smooth sweep. I didn't notice this fish here, or anywhere until a few years ago and I still find it enchanting.
To get that picture I had followed the baby raccoon out to the left. Feeling the tug of fate, I decided to follow the route seldom taken, navigating the bay in a counter clockwise fashion. I was soon
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| Pearl Wrasse male, Kahalu'u March 2023 |
I had not seen a Pearl Wrasse, neither the male nor the far more common female, this year. I'm including two pictures of the male and one of the female, which I found a short distance away. The first thing you might notice, is that as wrasses in Hawaii go, these are not small fish. The second thing is that unlike many fish, the male and female look remarkably dissimilar. In addition to their disparate coloration, the male has a curious shape to his head. Makes you wonder what he might be thinking about. I mean, he's a male, so probably sex. But what else? Global warming, the problem with the Chinese. The possibilities are limitless.
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| What does the Pearl Wrasse think about Xi Jinping? |
In the corner, the water was a little cloudy, but not as bad as it is frequently. Just a little further out it became fairly clear, so we have the picture of the female, and the second male, that are pretty good from that standpoint.
As I look at the female Pearl Wrasse, the one that gives the species its name, I'm reminded of those bearded wonders from Texas. ZZ Top, who if I'm not mistaken, sang a song about a girl with a pearl necklace. Luckily for this fish, she rarely has to deal with bearded rockstars from the Lone Star State.
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| She wore a pearl necklace at Kahalu'u. |
A bit further out the water was irresistibly clear and I took a few pictures of the Red Shouldered Surgeon. This is a common fish, both here at Kahalu'u and many other spots in Kona. In these days of climate change, I hesitate to take any fish for granted. The list of fish that were once common and that we no longer see at K Bay is not a small one. And it stretches across virtually every family of fish,
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| A beautiful Red Shoulder Surgeon, March 2023 |
Out here where you could almost yell good morning to the surfers, I ran into several Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse. For some reason, on this morning they were out and about, plying their trade. I took a few pictures of an average sized fellow at one cleaning station, and then a bit further on, I found one significantly larger.
This fish did not behave in the usual manner of his ilk; instead of slipping back under his coral at the cleaning station, he decamped and I followed him respectfully until he turned and gave us this gorgeous profile look.
And, as this is mostly a show and tell, showing off what we saw in the clear morning water, here is an I'iwi that was hanging around while I pursued the cleaner wrasse.
Finally I made it back toward shore and over near the Menehune Breakwater. There I encountered an adolescent of the Freckled Hawkfish sitting up on a bit of healthy coral. The juvenile of this species, with his bright green dorsum is one of my favorites. Although this fish is not as common as he once was, he's hanging on. In fact, you may recall that Leslie and I saw a fat Freckled Hawkfish on a lava reef out on Paul Allen's Reef just a couple
weeks ago. The thing is, the adult is not at all common in Kahalu'u Bay. But the juveniles,with their jaunty green caps, remain fairly regular. this juvenile is sufficiently different from the adult that I give it a new name, Forster's Hawkfish.
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| Freckled Hawkfish, adolescent, March 2023 |
If I do say so myself, this is a pretty good picture of a nice fish at the adolescent stage of maturity.
Back ashore, I asked the Reef Teacher manning the parking booth, a comely young Polynesian lady, if Yasuko was around. As it turns out, the spritely little Reef Teacher is spending two weeks in her native Japan. Reminiscing about our mutual friend permitted me to bond a bit with Brianne. While I was showing her my pictures of the Pearl Wrasse, a gentleman came to the booth and said, "If you're such a smartypants, tell me this! Yesterday I saw a crab, or was it a lobster? It looked funny but it was walkin' straight.
I suggested that it might be a slipper lobster. Being a young technophile, Brianne pulled up a picture on her phone, and the gentleman agreed that was what he had seen. More common at night, these
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| We all need a friend. Cleaner Wrasse and Senorita Jacator |
strange crustaceans are rarely seen. he had watched it crawl around a coral for about a minute. a truly excellent look at this recluse.
I complimented the gentleman on his strong work and that concluded a delightful morning at Kahalu'u. Hope to see you at the beach,
jeff
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