In the Year of Our Lord 2015 or Box Jellies and Whale Sharks and Bears. Oh my!

      The snorkeling season for the kids form Ono road got underway this week.  Sandra got the all clear from

 her optometrist on Monday and on Tuesday we took our first dip of 2015 in good ol' K Bay.  Kahalu'u was cool and clear, chock a block full of swimmers.  I was pleased to get  pretty good pictures of both of our indigenous needlefish; we were less pleased to have a run in with a whacko who had forgotten to take his haldol with his morning coffee.

     The following day we hooked up with Bob Hillis and his lovely young wife, Kim.  As the surf was coming up from the north, we played it safe and decided to swim on Paul Allen's Reef.  As we strolled down the malecon, dodging the mid morning diners heading for the Fish Hopper, Bob told us that our new friend Doug had seen a whale shark swimming with the dolphins at City of Refuge. 

      Regardless of all the swarming tourists from the cruise ship, I was plunged into a spasm of jealousy.  

That's Doug in the front car making out with the Whale Shark 

That I would give my eye teeth to see a whale shark was only part of it.

    I had met Doug a few weeks before.  Like Bob, he works as a dive guide.  Unlike Bob, he is from Kentucky.  Before he moved to Kona a few months ago, the majority of his diving experience was in abandoned rock quarries.  As the three of us snorkeled, it became apparent that he couldn't tell a barracuda from a blenny. Well, that's an overstatement, but you get the idea. Doug is a really nice guy who is undoubtedly an excellent diver.  And he was lucky enough to take his family, visiting from Louisville, down to Two Step for a swim and just happened to run into the fish of the decade.  While I was sitting in the optometry suite out at KP.org.  Where is the justice in this?

Just in case you don't know what a Whale Shark looks like.

    All of that green eyed monster stuff aside, congratulations to Doug and his family.  Seeing a whale shark from a shore entry is strong work.   And unbelievable good luck.

    Here is a link to a Youtube video of the whale shark taken by a divemaster this last week.   https://www.youtube.co/watch?v=c7_wxASPyPU

    On the beach in front of the King Kamehameha Hotel it was time to put our jealousy aside and get wet.  Or was it get cold.  Kim made us all jealous with a 2mm wet suit.  The rest of us were brave and soon we were all freezing out on the PAR.  It was a beautiful day with clear water and many of the usual suspects.  About ten yards away, Sandra got my attention yelling, "Box jellyfish!"

    Indeed, she had encountered the first box jellyfish that I had seen here in Kona or anywhere else.  we gathered nearby and watched the jelly contract, its four tentacles beating rhythm along with the bell.  As you

Just in case you forgot what a Box Jellyfish looks like.

probably know, this is among the more toxic animals one is likely to encounter in Hawaii.  Guy Hagi, the weatherman at HNL, keeps us appraised of  box jellyfish in surfing locations on Oahu.  Curiously, they are a rare visitor to the beaches on the Kona Coast.

   On shore, Sandra would reflate that she tried to keep her distance while taking her eye off the box jelly to call us over. It seemed to her that every time she looked back in the water, the jellyfish was swimming after her.  That's what she gets for being so sweet.  At any rate, I attempted to keep a safe distance while taking a few futile stabs at a photograph.  Being translucent, jellyfish have proved to be a difficult animal for me to capture on film.  Or an SD card, as the case may be.  This single box jelly was a life invertebrate for Sandra, Kim and myself.  Bob, of course, has seen pretty much everything.

     On the way in, I saw my second octopus of the young year (having already seen one at Kahaluu, of all places.)

    The following day, while sweetie was getting a hair cut, I took a dip on the Ironman side and saw the

Day Octopus, Kahalu'u, January 2015

most subtle color pattern of the Regal Parrotfish ...a pale beige with slightly darker vertical stripes and a pale yellow crescent on the tail.  Leave it to John Hoover to show this color pattern in The Ultimate Guide.

     On the way home, Sandra told me how proud her French coiffeur, François, was of the French police who put a terminal end to the Algerian terrorists.  One might have thought that a sensitive fellow like François would be a bit less blood thirsty.

   Clearly 2015 is going to be full of surprises.

jeff     

   

2014 ... The Year in Review

    In 2014 I turned over a new page.  Like beginning a new checkbook register, I started a new list for Hawaiian fish.  Only we didn't carry the total forward from the previous year...this year would stand on its

The Milletseed is MFK !

own.  I actually hadn't done this in a couple years.  Beginning a new list allowed me to see more clearly what fishes simply aren't easy for a snorkeler around Kailua Kona and it provided an impetus to get out and identify as many fish as possible.  No resting on laurels this year.  By reaching out in a variety of directions I was lucky to make new friends in the fish world,  And I was able to hone my skills and see some new fish and invertebrates.

    First about the list.  I saw 161 species of reef fish snorkeling in 2014.  The obvious highlight was the warty frogfish.  I saw two new crustaceans, the jeweled anemone crab and the seven eleven crab.  Best invertebrate goes to the killer mollusc, the nudibranch platydoris formosa that Sandra and I saw at the pier. 

The Banded Sea Urchin, E. calamaris, spawning.

   For those of you keeping score at home, the best mammal award goes to Chrissie Huffard.  Despite coming all the way from Monterey to Honaunau, she was unable to catch the warty frogfish.  Or was it the wary frogfish?  Her net was empty, her wet suit less so. 

   My outing with Chrissie and the the redoubtable John Hoover resulted in us witnessing the best natural history event of 2014...the spawning of  the banded sea urchin, E. calamaris.  The urchins climbed to the top of the reef and spewed forth their gametes into the sea turned golden by the setting sun.  Like a tribe of miniature underwater volcanoes, they was!  Talk about being in the right place at the right time. 

Of course, some animals were significantly absent.  Milletseed Butterfly was the most glaring.  This fish is not entirely MFK  (Missing From Kona...Not to be confused with the initials of our nations preeminent civil

Chrissie Huffard, "Here froggy, froggy.  Come to mama."

 rights leader, now emblazoned on street signs Seattle to Savannah.)  However,the milletseed butterfly  has become a deep water fish.  Our new resource, Bob Hillis, who in addition to being a fine snorkeling companion works a few days a week as a dive guide, reports that milletseeds can be seen at several dive sites below 30 feet.   Our focus has always been to see what is available from shore dives.  For some reason, milletseeds are no longer found at those sites easily accessed by the public at depths easily achieved by those of us without weight belts, tanks and regulators. 

    Up to now, I have had the conceit that I was seeing just about everything that divers saw.  This year revealed that species formerly common in the shallows have descended below snorkeling depths. Several species we took for granted are now seen primarily by divers.  Bummer.

    Coris flaviotta, the yellow or black striped wrasse depending on how you look at this particular beauty. was also absent from our list, along with Hawaiian Hogfish and Eight Stripe Wrasse.  Devil Scorpionfish and

 the Bigfin Squid,  rounded out the list of what I expected to see this last year.  And not for a lack of trying;  we knew very well that we were missing these species and our eyes were peeled, as my mother used to say. 

    Knowing what was missing, I took a swim on the PAR on December 31 to try and fill in the gaps.  The weather in Kona has been cooler and drier the last few weeks, truly delightful for out of water activities like gardening.  The cool air has had some effect on surface temperature, though, and I am told that this has fallen to 73 degrees.  Diving down doesn't gain you much warmth, either.  Never the less, with sunny skies and a cool breeze, these were great days at the beach.  The inner harbour at King Kam yielded a lot of usual suspects, along with the throng of Christmas Break revelers, but, alas , no scorpionfish.

    Out on the reef, being watchful for boat traffic, I swam over the deeper part, where the coral gives way to sand, at about 30 feet.  In the water column out there I saw Thompson's Butterfly, oval and three spot

Reticulated Butterflyfish, Paul Allen's Reef, New Year's Eve, 2014

chromis.  Ghosting around in the depths was a Gray Snapper, Aprion virescens.  This rather plain looking fish was the last to be added to the 2014 list.  I searched vigilantly, but there were no milletseeds lurking in 30 feet on the PAR.

   On the reef itself, in a modest amount of slosh, I got a killer look at Reticulated Butterfly and my best picture ever of this,  my favorite butterflyfish.  Just so you don't think I'm all doom and gloom, 2014 has been a very good year for retics.  And for Teardrop Butterflies and Coral Blennies, which 20 years ago were not all that common.  

    Back on shore, there was a gentleman holding court beside his truck, which boasted a paddle board.  He claimed to have seen a whale shark swimming with a pod of dolphins about two miles out.  Now that gives us something to aim for in 2015!

The Christmas Wrasse on Christmas Day

   The morning of December 25th dawned bright and clear  here in Kailua.  After a sweltering summer, those of us in our tiny resort community feel blessed with the cooler weather.  Christmas Day was the best of all.

The Author and Sir Galahad Set Out for the Holy Grail

Having been preceded by two days of rain (which Sandra and I truly enjoyed) Christmas Day was cool and the sky was scrubbed clean to a brilliant blue.

   By arrangement, we met our friend Kyle at the pier at 10 AM.  As a non-swimmer for a few more days, Sandra would stay ashore while Kyle and I carried on the Christmas tradition.

    The water was cool and clear as we plunged into the Inner Harbour.  This being Christmas,  the beach in front of the King Kam Hotel (now a Marriot)  was chock-a-block full.  The throng was mostly tourists, sunning, swimming and paddle boarding, but there was a smattering of us locals, as well.  Everyone was good natured as Kyle and I made our way out of the inner harbour, past the jetty, through the paddle boarders and into Kailua Bay.  I'd like to say that the water in the bay was a lot warmer than the inner harbour, but, as Kenneth said on 30 Rock, "Every time I tell a lie, an angel in heaven

Christmas Wrasse  January 30, 2011 Paul Allen's Reef

 loses her wings."  If you are aware of my propensity for prevarication, you might expect to see angels falling faster than the local water temperature.

    Actually, the water temperature wasn't that bad as we reconnoitered in the middle of the inlet.  I asked Kyle if he had seen a Christmas Wrasse as he swam along the shore.  He chose this moment to reveal that he didn't actually know what a Christmas Wrasse looked like.  Up to this point, I had thought of Kyle as a latter day Sir Galahad, he of the Siege Perilous, who would lead us to the Christmas Wrasse, the Holy Grail on this day of the nativity.  While Kyle is extremely competent in the water, my quick description, "the one with the blue and red spots, was probably inadequate to surmount the taxonomic hurdle.  The problem was further aggravated as said wrasse is no longer a common fish.  If you don't know enough to look for a Christmas Wrasse, you probably won't even notice this fast moving fish.

Christmas Wrasse Dec 28, 2010 Kona Makai

     On the far shore of the bay, tucked into the coral we spotted a Zebra Moray.

I saw an eel on Christmas Day/ A Moray Eel that made me Squeal!
I saw an eel on Christmas Day / On Christmas Day in the morning.

    Well. I no longer squeal at eels, so we swam around the corner, still looking for the wrasse with the red and blue spots.  Out on Paul Allen's Reef  proper, the water was clear and kinetic.  This was acceptable, as the Christmas Wrasse, similar to the more uncommon Five Stripe and Surge Wrasses, really likes moving water.  We swam along the edge, the bright sunlight sparkling in the surf, highlighting the Spotted Surgeons that love the splash.  A school of mullets glimmered like tinsel in the swirling shallows.

    Just over half way out I spotted a Christmas Wrasse!  It was a big, beautiful adult swimming a few feet below me along the lava palisade.  I looked up to call Kyle and when I looked down, the fish was gone.  We searched for a couple minutes, but there is a lot of water out there on the PAR and he was no where to be seen.   

I saw a Wrasse on Christmas Day!
A Christmas Wrasse swam up my  (well, you get the idea.)

I saw a wrasse on Christmas Day,
On Christmas Day in the Morning.

 

Porcupinefish  Christmas Day 2014

  All that singing aside, I'm providing you with the two best pictures that I have taken of the Christmas wrasse.  A couple things you might notice.  First, this is a fast moving fish.  Thus, one does not get a still life caliber photo.  Second, you might just reflect on  when these pictures were taken.  I have not improved on these pictures in almost four years.   Not only is the Christmas Wrasse fast moving, but it isn't getting any more common.  You may recall that on a stormy Christmas Day 2013, Sandra and I couldn't find one. 

     I was sad that  I had been unable to show the Christmas Wrasse to Kyle, but elated that the Good Lord had renewed our covenant for the coming year.  On the way in, we had a fine close look at a Porcupinefish.  And just outside the jetty we enjoyed a Zebra Moray hunting in about ten feet.

     Sandra was waiting for us on shore, all dry and pretty. She was overjoyed by the news of the sighting;  you can rest assured that the Redoubtable SKG knows a Christmas Wrasse when she sees one.

Don't Squeal for the Eel.  He is a shy fellow of good will.

     On Christmas Eve, we went to a caroling service outside the oldest church in Hawaii on Alii drive opposite the palace.  Noting that they were a man short, I nabbed a song booklet, slipped in and sang along.  The last song we sang was O Little Town of Bethlehem.  As the rest of the choir headed into the church, I sang my version of this classic to a non-existant audience.  When I get up early in the morning, or sometimes at night, I look down on the twinkling lights of Kailua and sing these lyrics.  This seems like the right time to share them with you.  

O little town Kailuaville
How still we see thee rise
Upon thy reef in dreamless sleep
The Silent Fish swim by.
 But in the dark depths shineth
The phosphorescent light.
The Sharks and Rays that rest by day
Swim here with us tonight.

Christmas Fish courtesy of Rene Umberger of Save the Fishes

 The keiki dreams of Sugarplums
The Ironman his run.
Praise God for Peace to all the Fish
From here to Kingdom Come.

Until we meet again, may the Dear Good Lord bless you and keep you.  And may he watch over all the fishes that we hold so dear.

jeff
 

Crustacean Day at K Bay

    Say what you will about Kahalu'u.  Beside the old Keahou Beach Hotel, which our benevolent federal government has shuttered theses past two years and more, the bay that once rivaled Hanuma Bay for

Eye Spot Shrimp, Saron neglectus, December 2014

numbers and varieties of fishes is now a shadow of its former self.  Tourists have trampled the coral and, for what ever reason, the legions of fish have disappeared.  As an indication of this decrease, 2014 will be the first year that I have failed to see a single Milletseed Butterflyfish in this bay.  Or anywhere else for that matter.

    K Bay remains a good place for a swim   The tourists, especially those from the cruise ships, arrive here in numbers that rival the long gone schools of milletseeds.  But there are still occasional discoveries to be made among the rocks and remaining corals. 

   This week I experienced such a lucky day.  Entering the water on a late December afternoon, I was struck by the cooler temperature of the water, but even more so in noting that the last vestiges of that horrid brown algae has completely disappeared.
 

Cone Shell Hermit Crab,  Kahalu'u   Dec. 2014

     Just inside Surfer's Rock, I was lucky to find three cooperative crustaceans.  the first was this cute little shrimp.  He patiently perched on a leaf of cauliflower coral while I took multiple pictures.  By looking at the coral polyps, you get an idea of how small this animal was: his armored forehead was about 3mm across.  I believe that those green striped legs indicate that this is an Eyespot Shrimp, Saron neglectus.  We also get a look at his red body with light brown spots in a reticular pattern.  Obviously, without the camera I would have no idea regardless of how cooperative this tiny animal was.

   A few moments later, I nabbed a cone shell well coated with coraline algae, placed it on a coral a foot below the surface and waited.  As you see, we were rewarded with a gorgeous Cone Shell Hermit Crab.  This is not a rare animal at Kahalu'u.  Among the cone

Hidden Hermit Crab  Ca. latens  Kahalu'u  Dec. 2014

shells I pick up, I would guess that a Stripey, as Sandra and I call this handsome beast, emerges about 15% of the time.  Roughly one in seven attempts.  Combined with good light and mild conditions, this guy was the perfect model and we got this super photograph.

    Finally, on the adjacent coral, this latens was happy to provide a photo op, making this day a hat trick for crustaceans.  The remainder of my swim was devoted to looking for a milletseed.  On this day, we had to be satisfied with a lone Saddleback.  And time is running out.

jeff 

December at the Dog Beach

   It had been a while since I had been to the Dog Beach, that sweet little crescent of sand just seaward of the Honokohau boat basin.  My regular snorkeling partner, the Redoubtable SKG, has been rendered hors de combat by her ophthalmologist at KP.org (he said no swimming for 30 days following cataract surgery).  

Bluestripe Butterflyfish  Kailua Pier  January 2014

This being the case, it took little convincing to get Bob Hillis to join me for a snorkel at Playa del Perros.

    It was a calm morning in Kailua with little wind and moderate wave action.  Big surf was in the offing, though, so this seemed like just the time to squeeze in this adventure.  As you know, it is only a couple miles from Kailua to the harbor, so we were surprised at the power of the wind.  And the surf was bigger, too.  We watched the breakers for a few minutes and saw a couple sets with 18 inch faces.  All this was inside the margin of safety so Bob and I headed on down to the Dog Beach.

     I'm pleased to say that at this point the pathway from the parking area down to the beach is as easy as it has ever been.  Below the ridge, either mother nature or a kindly menehune has positioned stones through the boulder field to make an easy transit.
 . 
    On the beach, the wind was blowing about twenty knots.  Although this created a bit of a problem positioning a grass mat, it rendered the area a no fly zone.  Curiously, Bob said that he hadn't noticed a fly

Orangetail Filefish  at the Dog Beach, Honokohau April 2013

problem on the Dog Beach.  For Sandra and myself, it is a fairly big issue.  We used to love to lounge on this beach after a swim.  People still hang out under the trees here, but we can't understand how they tolerate the flies.  Anyway, there were no flies on Frank today and only one friendly border collie for Bob to play with as we headed into the water.

    We must have timed our entry perfectly, for the bay was full of water and washed us right out.  On the outside, I immediately spotted a Blue Stripe Butterfly.   You don't see that fellow very often, so the trip was already a success.  We swam back and forth in the shallows, hoping for a Fantailed or Orangetail Filefish.  Neither put in appearance on this day.

    Another fish that did not put in an appearance was a tiger shark.  You may recall that following the great shark imbroglio of September 2013, we have become aware that these beasts are found near this dive site with appalling regularity.  I was on red alert.  Despite my vigilance, I did not see a shark.  Which I guess is a good thing.   If circumstances had worked out well  (i.e., without a call to the EMTs or the county coroner) it might have been fun to add the shark to our 2014 list.   But I can live without it.  Literally.

     Bob dove down in an area where he had seen a frogfish a month ago,but was unable to find froggy this day.   About fifty yards this side of the green buoy we got a close look at a large Thompson's Surgeonfish.

My charming daughter Tara wading at the Dog Beach

On the way in, we nabbed a juvenile Reticulated Butterfly, only about two inches long, working his way in and out of the coral in the surge zone.


    The swim back in was easy and we soon found ourselves walking back up the lava ridge to the parking area.  As we left the ridge we encountered a family of four on their way down.  The two children were wearing life preservers, which probably indicated that these were tourists.  Bob gave them a run down on the ocean conditions and I chimed in the the little bay was a very safe place for the kids to frolic.  I neglected to tell them that it was unlikely that the tiger sharks would enter the little bay.   Live and learn That's my motto.

jeff
 

  

Two Great Reasons to go to Bali (Besides Fish)

   When John Hoover linked me up to his website he made me promise that this blog would mostly deal with

The Purnama Offering Parade

fish.  All in all, I have tried to honor that commitment.  When one is attempting to sell a really big trip to their friends and family, however, it is nice to have something to offer them besides just the opportunity to look at fish.  Or in some cases (as may be the situation with John and his charming wife) the better half may very well be interested in something other than fish.  In  Bali, there are several other things that may draw one there.  

    So before we leave Bali,  I wanted to mention some of the other things one might look forward to.   Many people go to Bali for other outdoor experiences, like climbing one of the major volcanoes...both Agung and Batur can be climbed either on your own or with a guide. Some people go birdwatching, but this being a relatively small island and fairly densely populated, there are not too many birds.

The Purnama Offering Parade

 Sandra and I have found two things in Bali that are truly unique and, perhaps as much as the many species of beautiful fish, these things draw us back. 

    The first is the Balinese people themselves and the way their lives revolve around the unique brand of Hinduism practiced only in Bali.  In the 8th century a Hindu monk made it from India to Bali and the religion has been evolving for one and a half millennia.  From dawn to dusk the Balinese place offerings of incense, rice and flowers at altars, on the walkways, at the beaches...just about anywhere you might imagine. 

        Although the Balinese may disagree, the most outward sign of this Hinduism is the community effort to

Legong Dancer, Ubud Palace

  insure reincarnation of the deceased members of the villages.  Around the island there are temples that draw villagers with symbolic remains of the recently departed.  These ceremonies are not necessarily sad gatherings.  After all, if they get it right the departed will rejoin the living. 

    Unlike some religions,  the Balinese are eager to have you participate in their rites.  On a previous trip we joined the people of a village as they made the hike up the mountain to Pura Lempuyang.  This year we were invited by a couple that ran a restaurant in Tulamben to accompany them to Purnama, the Hindu Full Moon Ceremony.  The entire village showed up and under the rising moon, the offerings were presented with some pageantry and then blessed by the priest.  As we sat listening to the priest, our hostess asked me if I was happy.  And I was!  It was an honor to participate with our hosts, but this isn't a rare experience.

Legong Dancer at Ubud Palace

If you show an interest, you will almost certainly find yourself in a sarong at some point.

    This year, for the second time, we went to Pura Lawah, otherwise known as the Bat Cave.  The Bat Cave is one of the seven directional temples.  This year there were literally thousands of Hindus celebrating while we were there.  Discreet photographs were allowed.  And who doesn't want to peer into the cave full of bats?  But to be honest, being at the temple and praying with the Hindus is a very spiritual experience. 

At least as good as seeing a new fish.

      The second thing I want to tell you about is the city of Ubud.  Ubud is an hour or two from DPS, the airport for the island in the metropolis of Denpassar.  Perhaps when you are planning a trip to Bali, you will think of Ubud as a place to do some shopping before heading home.  And there are some fantastic restaurants there, as well. But there is much more to Ubud than shopping. 

The Beautiful Sita Held Hostage by the Monkey Warriors

   Many people use it as a headquarters for outdoor activities like hiking. 

    My personal favorite is the dance programs put on around the city every night.  There are several varieties of these authentic dances, which are connected to the Balinese Hinduism.  The Legong Dance is my personal  favorite.  Beautiful dancers, richly costumed, perform for an hour or so.  Their hand and eye movements are unique to the legong. Often these dances are held outdoors in ancient temples and palaces.  I find it utterly intriguing.
    The other dance we enjoy is the Kecak dance.  A troop of men dressed as monkey warriors, chant for an hour while the actors put on an operatic play centered on the Ramayana, one of the central stories of their religeon.  At the end, a fire of coconut husks is ignited and a man in a trance rides his hobby horse through

The Fire Trance At an Ubud Temple

the fire repeatedly.   It does not get anymore exotic than the Kecak Dance and Fire Trance.  Admission for these dances was about 8 USD.  Unbelievable.

   Well, you have suffered through my descriptions of the beaches in the Amed area.  They are sufficiently intact that even someone like myself, snorkeling and unguided, was able to see over 250 species of reef fish in two weeks.  And you now have the information to keep the non-fishwatchers entertained. 

   Thank you for putting up with this decidedly un-fishy blog.  Sandra and I hope that there is a trip to the enchanted island of Bali in yur future.  When you get there, say hi to all our friends.

jeff
 

The Villain Rangaa is Found in All Legong Dances

Entering the Bat Cave temple

A Look at the Legong  in the Ubud Palace

Our Host, Wayan, and His nephew at Purnama

The Revenge of the Megabranch

   Two days ago i hauled my sweetie down to the pier.  I had seen the monster baracuda the day before and I thought we had a chance to find it again.  Besides which, these are halcyon days here in Kailua, with relatively cool breezes and tolerably cool ocean water; it wsas the perfect day for a swim.

   As expected, the water was cool and very clear.  As we swam out to the palace, there were relatively few fish, but we were enjoying swimming together so it didn't seem to matter.  W swam seaward from the last

Sea Slug Photographed from about ten feet

 buoy into cloudy water, but were unable to rouse either the fish ball or the barracuda.  Turning for home,  we followed the line where the coral transitions to sand, the palanis and ringtails foraging over the sand to our left.  As we neared the buoy, I spotted an oval twentyfive feet down below on the sand.  It could have been a small piece of coral or a stone jutting out, but it was too symmetrical. 

    I dove down and got a picture.  As I surfaced, Sandra called me over to look at a flounder, which we watched for a minute or so.  Turning back to our find, I was surprised to see that in that short time it had moved about five feet.  Not only that, but contrary to what I had assumed only a minute or so before, my time for documenting this mollusc (for it had to be either a snail or a nudibranch) was going to be limited, as he  was headed for the shelter of a coral head.

   I dove deep twice, getting within about four feet of this motivated critter.  After I surfaced for the last time, we watched him disappear under the coral head.   A small discussion ensued as we passed the camera back and forth looking at our photographic evidence.   I was pretty sure that this was a nudibranch as we could

Platydoris formosa    Kailua Kona    25 ft   2014

see no shell in the picture, but this was (in my limited experience with the nudibranchia) a very large animal.  Unprecedented. 

     My experience with living nudibranchs began as a teenager, when I saw a colony living in Neatarts Bay near Tillamook, Oregon.  This group disappeared a year following my discovery.  Since then,  my experience has been sadly small, running to four or five nudibranch species in than Sea of Cortez, one or two in the Carribean,  three in Indonesia and only two in Hawaii.. Six years ago we saw Julianna's Sea Hare among the rocks at Pahoehoe Beach Park after a rain.  And that was my last Hawaiian sea slug sighting. The sea hare was an amazing animal, almost four inches in length.  Among all my other nudibranch sightings, I had seen animals no larger than my thumb, both in width a length.  This creature was five inches long and at least two inches wide. 

   As a point of explanation, my sea slug experience has been limited by three factors.  First, I don't dive.  Second, I rarely snorkel at night.  And third, I am limited to sites that can be reached from a shore entry.  Suffice it to say, while I have found nudibranchs interesting, my experience is pathetically small and doomed to remain so.

    Back at the ranch, I worked on improving our photograph while Sandra perused the World Wide Web.  She hit pay dirt in a website published by Cory Pittman and  Pauline Fiene. Cory is a naturalist based in Washington State while Pauline works as a dive guide on Maui.  They are both serious scientists and have species of nudibranchs named in their honor.  Talk about living the dream.  Their website is amazing and I invite you to pause to take a look:

http://seaslugsofhawaii.com/

Platydoris formosa from Seaslugs of Hawai'i

    If you look through their thumbs and descriptions, you will see that there are plenty of larger sea slugs.  I actually like my picture pretty well. It provides a good look at the rhinophores (chemical receptors which many of us might refer to as antennae) and the gills. I think both look like a reticulated membrane as opposed to single projections.   As contact information was included, I sent both Pittman and Fiene my two pictures and some field notes, including my best guess as to identification.  Cory wrote back in less than 24 hours.  In a laconic note, he verified that this was Platydoris formosa, which was my best guess based on their wonderful website.  I hope you enjoy my pictures and perhaps you can try your hand using the Pittman/Fiene website.  I'm certain that you will find their pictures and descriptions enlightening.

jeff

Julianna's Sea Hare, Larry Basch, National Park Service