An Octopus, the Gilded Trigger and Razorfish Redux

   Despite its position in the title, I am going take the liberty of dealing with old business first.

Day Octopus and Manybar Goatfish

As I am not entirely bonkers, I sent my field notes of the Kona Crab and probable razorfish, along with my inferior pictures (as opposed to a link to the last blog) to John Hoover and Jack Randall.  Even though they didn't get to sing Ragtime Sandra Gray, they were both interested enough in the fish-crab association to write back.  Dr. Randall was quick to compare our newest finding to the well known association between day octopus and manybar goatfish.  The picture at right was taken by yours truly at 49 Black Sand Beach.  He also noted the association between Bluefin Trevally and Blue Goatfish.  Although one sees these two species hunting together all the time, its difficult to photograph, as they are on the move.

    John Hoover was kind enough to send my information on to John Earle, who he put forth as the expert on Razorfish (genus Iniistius) in Hawaii..  Here is his interesting response:

I have seen Iniistius associate themselves with all manner of non-threatening critters that stir up the sand, up to the size of rays, and also with anchors dragging in the sand.  A good hunting strategy for them, but I doubt this is a case of commensual hunting as one sees with octopus or Gymnothorax meleagris  [Whitemouth Moray] with Parupeneus [goatfish]  species and jacks (with the possible exception of the anchors ;-)  Nothing in it for the ray, crab, goatfish, etc.

Blackside Razorfish (Picture borrowed from the internet)

   I am including a purloined picture of a Razorfish, so you have an idea of what I assume we saw hunting with the Kona Crab 40 feet below.  I have never seen this species of razorfish well, except a couple times  in plastic wrapped containers in the meat department at the KTA or Oshima's up in Kainaliu.  Its nice to know that razorfish have a good time out in the sand before they end up as pescado.

     Moving right along, as we had guests last week and were determined to show off the best of Kona snorkeling, we went to two of our favorite locations.  On Monday we went to 49 Black Sand Beach at the Mauna Lani (following a morning walk out to the Puako Petroglyphs.)  The water was clear

and there were lots of handsome fish among the plentiful coral.  Fairly early into our excursion, Sandra tugged on my fin and pointed to a large octopus ten feet below us.
He was an excellent fellow, changing textures and colors.  If you are observant, you can see both his eye and his siphon in the accompanying picture.

    The next day we rolled down to Ho'okena.  On the way, we stopped at the Peace Garden on Painted Church Road.  Amid the multiple memorials commemorating the world's religions (whether or not they are peaceful)  there is a large planting depicting the our galaxy, the Milky Way.  In the Galaxy Garden, different plants represent different types of stars, nebulae, etc.  There was even a black hole at the center.  Brad, who teaches astronomy at the local college back in Mt. Vernon, Wa. was in Hog Heaven (to complete the religious metaphor).  Here is the website for the Peace Garden, including a Cracker Jack picture of the Galaxy Garden.  http://www.paleaku.com/

Gilded Triggerfish  X. auromarginatus  Ho'okena August 2013

    Finally, at Ho'okena the sky was a bright blue, the waves were small and the sea crystal clear.  Sounds like the perfect opportunity for underwater photography.  Luckily, there was a school of Gilded Triggerfish in about ten feet of water (way shallow for this species) and among them was the magnificent male you see pictured at right.  It just goes to show that if you hang in there, God will provide you an excellent fish aand a lovely day to take the picture.

   I hope you have lots of them,

jeff

In the words of the great P. T. Barnum,
"There's a sucker born every minute."  And that goes double when your dealing with an octopus!

When Brad and Dale Are on Vacation, They Really Have a Good Time!