Back in Kona or a Kailua Beach Update.

    We have been back for about five days now.  Despite her whimperings at the airport, Anita has gone back to Calgary.  Yesterday, with the boat finally under the sails, we took our first swim on the home

Dr. Gray Delivers a Lesson In Carcinology at K Bay.

court.  Snorkeling at Kahaluu, we didn't see very much to report upon.  But the water was cool and clear and we saw a couple young families swimming responsibly out on the reef.  Back ashore, Sandra made friends with a girl who had captured a Left Handed Hermit Crab.  How lucky was that urchin that the Queen of the Genus Calcinus was there to help with the identification of Ca. laevimanus?   With a promise that Poncho's best friend would be returned to the same spot in K Bay the following day, Sandra taught her how to feed Lefty tidbits of chicken from a toothpick. 

    This morning, with Sandra on her way to the ophthalmologist in Honolulu, I went swimming on the PAR.  I encountered a young man out in front of Paul Allen's estate who had his Go Pro mounted on a yellow floating handle.  As opposed to one of those three foot sticks that seem to empower novices into terrorizing our friends with fins.(I have worked up a little  vignette inolving the Go Pro inventor, the NYPD

Big Nose Unicornfish.  Or Is It The Bluenose Unicornfish? 

and that expletive deleted stick.  I'm certain that you would find it amusing, but Sandra will not permit me to publish my amusing tale.)

    Having taken a dip in our Hawaiian waters,  I wanted to give a comparison between snorkeling on the Big Island and in Bali.  First, most of the fish that we see here are in Bali, as well.  We probably saw 75 of the regular Hawaiian species and about two hundred more species of fish over our two weeks identifying the fish in the Land of the Barong.   The Yellow Tang, which is the backdrop for Hawaiian snorkeling, is an exception.  although it is not a Hawaiian endemic, it does not occur in Indonesia.   Neither does the Christmas Wrasse and Achilles Tang.  But the number of fishes that we cataloged in Bali that we see routinely in Hawaii was never the less immense.

    Diversity and numbers aside, I believe we in Hawaii owe ourselves a round of applause.  Compared with the equivalent sites in Bali, where tourists can enter the water from the shore, our shalow reefs are spotless.

Pacific Double Saddle Butterflyfish  Jemeluk  2014

 Any of us who snorkel around the pier regularly can remember a rare event, like a drunk throwing in a magazine rack, that caused a temporary underwater litter problem. But the waters around Jemeluk were Lady Bird Johnson's worst nightmare.  I was continually bumping into floating bags, wrappers and boxes.  There was a dirty diaper a few feet away from where we saw the Ocellated Dragonet.  How disgusting is that? 

     Although they are providing the lodging and access, this can not be blamed on the Balinese.  And there was no one there from Etats Unis (except Sandra and me... and I can assure you we did not litter.) No, the people responsible for this littering were French and Australian, pretty much without question.  Full contact snorkeling occurs both here and there.  All we can do is try to help swimmers towards better behavior no matter where we are.

     So the bottom line is that the water here on the Big Island is clear and cool.  Get on out there and see a fish for me.

White Belly Puffer  C. benneti  Jemeluk 2014

jeff

PS. As we go along, I will show you a few more pictures taken in the Java Sea.  And I will be dribbling in updates from our Bali identifications.   The Canthigaster referred to in one of the Lipah Bay blogs was identified by Luiz Rocha of the California Academy of Science as C. benneti.  It was wearing a cryptic coloration that may be new to science.  The identification apparently hinges on the red lines you see on the forehead and nape.

    Tomorrow I will get my hands on Jack Randall's West Pacific book in the Kailua Library with hopes of pinning down two gorgeous parrotfish.  Wish me luck

j

This Color Pattern of C. benneti Gave Drs. Randall and Rocha Something To Ponder