Trick or Treat at Kailua Pier

    On Halloween Sandra and I made our way to the pier.  There were kids in their costumes being dragged around by their mothers. 

Happy Halloween Kailua Style

   A cruise ship was in and the lady shilling for the bus to Kahalu'u was dressed to the nines in a killer witch costume.  The tourists off the boat were in costume as well, appearing as the cast from The Revenge of the Nerds.   

     We put on our masks (after all, it was Halloween) and went looking for some friends with fins.  On the way back, a school of small fish with black tips to their tails shot by Sandra.   I caught up with them schooling over the sand right at the entrance.  They were mackerel scad, known to Hawaiians as opelu.  It is a testimony to their importance as food fish that Opelu is a pretty common street name on the Big Island.

     It was immediately apparent that the opelu were a favorite food fish of the ulua, as well.  There were two medium size Blue Fin Trevally repeatedly running at the school.  In the manner of wolves and caribou, I

Mackerel Scad or Opelu

assume they were looking to sort out the weak individual and incorporate him into the food chain.   I had fun watching them chase back and forth for about five minutes.  The ulua did not catch one while I watched, but they seemed pretty determined to get  their Halloween treat.


     Two days later, we were back down at the pier for an afternoon swim.  The ambiance was entirely the opposite of Halloween;  there was hardly a soul on the pier or in the water.  On October 31st, it had been pretty much the usual suspects.  On this day, by contrast, we encountered some interesting species right away.  Just past the sand

Undulated Moray Eel

there were two ulua, probably the same pair that were hunting opelu, who were now plying their trade with a pair of Blue Goatfish.  The water was pretty clear, but I did not get a great picture.  when these guys work together, they are busy, busy busy.  No time to pose for a portrait.  With their chemo-sensitive barbels, the goatfish apparently makes the ideal hunting partner.  This is probably the most common and obvious symbiotic relationship we encounter.  Someday I'll get a really good picture.

    A bit further out a large Undulated Moray Eel who was actively hunting obliged us with a fierce pose.

     But the best was yet to come.   Out by the third swim buoy, in about ten feet  of water, we spotted a Bluestripe Butterflyfish.  This is a very handsome

Bluestripe  Butterflyfish,  Kailua Kona Pier, November 2013

fish and really rare.  I can probably count the number of individuals of this fish, for I have never seen more than one at a time) on one hand.  So pleased was I that I dove him time and again going for the best picture.  He was fossicking with a couple of Pebbled Butterflyfish and didn't seem to mind my efforts, so we played this game until Sandra declared enough is enough.  I hope you enjoy the pictures of this rare and wonderful butterflyfish.

    And I hope you got lots of candy on Halloween.

Jeff

 

Blue Goatfish Hunting with Ulua

Which one a youse guys wants to be my lunch?