The Night BeforeThanksgiving Day Blog

   Just to make one thing perfectly clear, if there is any turkey in this blog, it is the one that I see when I look in the mirror.
    My editor tells me that I owe the anonymous friend of a friend  an apology.  I meant no harm and mainly wanted my one or two readers to beware of the criminal element lurking around downtown Kailua.  And to be fair, I had my favorite backpack stolen from the cubby in the same location five years ago.  It wasn't the very same piece of furniture because that one was washed away in the Great Tsunami.  This new cubby has been anchored to the pier by a veritable web of steel cables.  But it is apparently no less vulnerable to theives.  Anyway,  I was just as guilty of carelessness, I miss my beloved backpack and Sandra still remembers slinking to the car in her wet swimsuit.  So to the firend of a friend: I meant no offense.  Mea culpa.
    Now on with today's news.
    I promised you that I would keep you appraised of the developing immature Pink Tail Triggerfish.  I went back in at Kona Makai this afternoon  (its still as calm as a bath tub) and swam around the spot where we have seen the immature PTT. 

A fish came along after about ten minutes and hung around the bottom near the spot where we saw the Orange Tail immature,  abeit a little deeper, perhaps just to aggravate me.  Here is the best pictures I could get.  Looks a lot like an adult PTT, doesn't it?  So either our fish matured completely in the past few days or the baby has left home to find his way in the world.  Or he was hiding in the rocks for fifteen minutes.   I'll be sure to let you know if the orange tail immature returns.
      Following this underwhelming adventure I swam over to the south side of our little bay, halfway intending to see if the Reticulated Butterflies were still in front of Royal Sea Cliff.  Over the south cusp, though, I got a good look at an initial phase Blacktail Wrasse.  This fish was on a mission from God.  My really good look lasted about two or three seconds as she swam out of visible range.  I patrolled the area for a few minutes, but the fish was gone.  There was no chance to take a picture.  Assuming that you have some interest in what this fish looks like, but yet have no fish book or are too lazy to open it, here is a link:
http://www.fishbase.org/identification/SpeciesList.php?genus=Thalassoma

     The Blacktail Wrasse is also known as the Old Lady Wrasse.  The Hawaiian name,  hinalea lauhine,  refers to an older woman.  It is a very rare fish in the main islands.  Before today, I haven't seen an adult that I can clearly remember. Sadly, my  "clear memory" for most birds and fish only goes back about 20 to 25 years.  To quote a denizen of the VA hospital in Portland,circa 1980,  "It takes a lot of guts to get old."  His problems were undoubtably worse than losing clear memory of a fish, but this is important stuff that seems to be falling off the far end of the shelf.  So it goes.  (Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five) 
    Philosophy aside, two years ago a couple on the beach at Kahaluu reported the little green immature BTT to me.  Last year and already this season I have seen and photographed a little green immature Blacktail Wrasse at Kahaluu.   This is a tiny fish (note the immature parrotfish on the left) and very green.  I'm not sure what Kermit would have to say about this, but if you are observant enough to find the little green fish, there is absolutely no doubt about what it is.  So it was very nice to see an adult.  If babies are showing up year after year, even in these small numbers, one could reasonably hope for a breeding pair somewhere in the neighborhood.
    So on that satisfying note I will leave you with this thought:

Little Green Fish, Little Green Men.
Old Ladies are from Venus,  Blacktail Wrasses are from Mars.

Happy Thanksgiving and remember... the turkey in the mirror is yours truly,
jeff