Kermit the (Crab) Frog

     Early this morning my sweetie asked me to look at the wave predictor and, lo and behold, calm

conditions were predicted for the Kona Coast.  Sweetly she asked if we could go to Ho'okena, even though we will be going there again with our guests later in the week.  Not being the sort of guy who wants to disappoint his Honey, I cleared up the breakfast dishes, got our snorkeling equipment together and off we headed to the south.

    Lucky for us, on arrival we got a primo parking spot and, with our trusty old binoculars, were able to pick out the dolphin pod in the bay.  Wiki wiki we got down to the water and swam out toward the dolphins.  On the way out we saw the expected Yellowfin Surgeons and Gilded Triggerfish.  As a treat, Neptune sent us a pair of genuinely large Ulua.  This is not an uncommon fish, but, the cheesy  Island Insurance commercial not withstanding, you don't see the really big ulua very often.

     Although the dolphins were delightful, I was also keeping my eye on the sandy bottom 40 feet below.    

First, I noticed a group of Garden Eels.  Then, off to the side, I spotted two animals working in concert on the sandy bottom.  One was a fish, probably a Yellowstripe Goatfish, although it was too far away for me to be certain that I had identified what type of fish it was, much less the species.  It could have been a razorfish or some other wrasse. The second was clearly a crustacean.

    Doing my mediocre dives, I was able to close to within 30 feet or so of this pair.  I could clearly see that I was looking at a crab that was forging across the sand by pushing with its rear legs. I knew immediately that this was a Frog Crab!  His forward propulsion was in direct contradiction to those famous marine biologists, Tom and Dickie Smothers who sang, "Crabs walk sideways and lobsters walk straight. And we won't let you take her for your mate."  He was pushed along by a remarkably frog-like extension of his rear legs, leading with a pair of enormous pincers, his eyes erect on stalks.  The attendant fish worked around him, similar to a Multiband Goatfish teaming up with an octopus.

     I'm afraid that the picture above is the best I could do at this extreme distance.  Sandra thinks my picture looks quite a bit like that staple of our diet here in Hawaii, the Costco rotisserie chicken. Believe me, it was a Frog Crab.   I'm including a purloined picture so you can get a better idea what this animal looks like.   Interestingly, there were no good pictures in Google images of a frog crab in the wild.  More on that momentarily.

    This was my first frog crab.  Our friend John Hoover tells us that this was a Kona Crab, Ranina ranina (Linnaeus 1788) which means Frog frog.   "How did good old Linnaeus get one of these crabs?"  you may ask.  The answer is that they are widely dispersed in the Indopacific and are quite edible.  Hence, European sea captains were probably been offered them as food in trade and a few specimens undoubtably made it back to the curiosity collections of Holland.  They are trapped commercially even here in Hawaii, but the catch is regulated.  Consequently, most pictures on the internet are directed towards the chef, as opposed to the wildlife biologist.  Hoover goes on to say that the crab lives below 30 feet and is rarely encountered in the wild.  (Unless you count plucking them from traps!)

    We completed our circuit, encountering a school of Oval Chromis that deftly evaded my attempt at photography. 

Let's Go Bucks!

   Lately I have become enamored of an old tune, Ragtime Cowboy Joe.  As a child I bore the indignity of a Canadian father whose only interest in athletics was hockey.  Living in Portland, the only professional sports we attended were the Portland Buckaroos, who, purely by default were my childhood athletic heroes.  Before each period the Bucks would skate around their end of the ice to a peppy organ version of Ragtime Cowboy Joe.  Following which we would get out our cow bells and yell,  "Let's Go Bucks!"  With that in mind, as we swam in, I composed this ode to my sweetie whose enthusiasm had spawned this days adventure.  (In the event that you are not familiar with the tune, I'm including a version by the Flying J Wranglers of Ruidoso, NM.  I hope you will take the time to enjoy their singing.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et_ZyqIa36E

Ragtime Sandra Gray

Way down in Ho'okena where the big fish  play,
You can swim with an Ulua or a Manta Ray.
But the hottest thing in the whole damn bay,
Is Ragtime Sandra Gray.

 (refrain)
She likes to sing raggedy music to the Dolphins,
As she bobs, back and forth upon the ocean.
With the sharks, she has never had a quarrel.
You can hear the dolphins chortle as she sings into her snorkel.

And they jump, every time they see her comin',
Cause the Dolphin folks all say.
She's the high falutin', rootin' tootin, Snorkelin' Girl from Hookena!
Ragtime Sandra Gray

Raggy Scorpionfish, S. venosa (Cuvier 1829)   Bali 2009

She sings her raggy music to the crabs and fish.
She could cook 'em in a chowder or most any dish.
But she like pipe her snorkely tremolo.
So she sings to her friends below.

refrain

I'm including a pic of the Raggy Scorpionfish, taken with the old $89 water camera at dusk in Permuteran, Bali.  My only regret is that I wasn't thoughtful enough to sing Ragtime Cowboy Joe to this magnificent stonefish. 

jeff