Wir Müssen Einen Schnorchel Gemacht

   Before the recent deluge, in which we had two banana trees and  our ornamental taro collapse (requiring an excessive amount of gardening) I snuck in a quick swim down at the pier.  The water was a teensy bit warmer, modestly cloudy and contained only one fish of interest.  This was a pebbled butterly who had a huge chunk taken out of his back.  It looked like he had been chomped on by a pit

Monogamous mating, A pair of  Pebbled Butterflyfish  

bull.  In truth, I don't know what sort of predator would take such a semicircular chunk out of the back of a butterflyfish.  One would think that most large carnivorous fish, a barracuda, for example, would take a wedge shaped chunk.  So maybe it was a pit bull.

   Aside from the size and shape of the missing chunk, there were two interesting aspects to this fish.  First, it was amazing that a bite of this size was not fatal.  I'm going to guess than in one fell swoop he lost 10% of his body mass.  Fish must have a mechanism to quickly close off the arteries supplying the outer muscles unlike that in humans.  One might also wonder if that chunk is going to grow back.  we see geckos in our yard regrowing their tails.  Is the same true for butterflyfish?

   The second thing that I observed, was that the mate of this fish was swimming along with his

It is a very attractive swim buoy!

injured partner as if nothing had happened.  They were swimming a little slower than usual, but there was no indication that, despite this catastrophe, the better half was looking for a new mate.  This is clearly a degree of fidelity, known as monogamous mating, that does not exist in humans.  Only three percent of mammals (according to our friends at wikipedia) engage in monogamous mating.   Obviously not all fish are paired up in such a dedicated fashion.   

   This information may come in handy if anyone asks you, "What is the biggest difference between Donald Trump and a butterflyfish?"

   The more interesting aspect of my day at the beach involved my fellow human beings.  On arrival I encountered three recreational swimmers attached to snazzy new buoys in designer colors.  Do you remember the day when you saw your first tennis ball that wasn't white?  Now they come in optical green, yellow and orange.  And so do swimming buoys.  Variety is nice, and the girl in the add looks pretty good with her yellow buoy, but is looking good really the object?  The more I thought about it, the less sense it made.   There is a perfectly good reason that it is called Coast Guard orange, and it has little to do with complementing

Crystal Charges by with her Powerbreather.

a pretty lady's swim suit.  Yellow is bad enough, but a green swim buoy?  For crying out loud, the water is green!

   As I swam, I realized that if I was towing a swim buoy I would not be able to free dive.  Remember how Jaws was able to pull those air filled kegs below the surface?   Simply amazing!  Mr. Google doesn't hop right on this question, so I'll have to ask around and get back to you.

   As I began my swim, a lady entered right behind me using a device that I had not previously encountered.  She had a double barreled snorkel.  Tubes went up on both sides of her head joining at a central mouthpiece.  She wore fancy swim goggles which were not attached to the snorkel... the double barreled snorkel was secured by a strap that went around the back of her head.

Frodo says, "If you want to defeat the Dark Lord get a Powerbreather."

    Lucky for you, I met the double barreled snorkel lady après swim at the showers.  Her name is Crystal and she attests that the double barreled snorkel, known as Powerbreather, is just the thing.  It was designed in Germany and can be set to provide an incredible amount of air exchange.  But wait!  According to Crystal it can also be set to provide resistance to air exchange, in case you want to improve your lung function, exercise those muscles of respiration.  Ausgezeichnet!  You can see the snorkel at the Powerbreather website (https://www.powerbreather.com/en/)  where it is endorsed by none other than Jan Frodeno, our very own two time Ironman champion.  So beloved is Jan, that here in Kona we call him Frodo.  Maybe the next time I go snorkeling I'll put a wad of plastic in my snorkel.  Then I'll be the best breather on my block. 


Editors note.  Our photo processor is currently hors de combat.  Thanks to Ryan Photographic for the picture of the paired butterflyfish