Early Morning at K Bay: Turtles and Cones

The hawksbill is universally knownium
For a snout that wields a sharp tomium.
Keep your fingers away

At the Fishwatcher's Bar and Grill  Time for some cone shell sliders.

Or you'll be forced to say,
"I've been subjected to hawksbill opprobrium."

     This week began with a dose of disappointment.  The previous Sunday we had been nominated to
assist with communion.  Later in the week our friend Hai On, the Godfather of Kawaihae sent us a thrilling text, bearing news of renewed nudibranch activity, etc. at the Kawaihae  Harbor army platforms.  We had arranged to meet him today and then, almost immediately, the faucet in the master bath started to leak. I then thought we could go with Hai on Sunday, but the nasty business of serving communion came up.   So it all got cancelled.

Encrusted Cone Shell with a Handsome Red Lined Foot

    We arrived at church only to find that the rug of our Jesus's blood shed for thee gig had been pulled out from under us.  We toyed with the idea of walking out, going home, grabbing our snorkels and heading north, but there really wasn't time to make the scene in Kawaihae.  Sandra spent the service uttering dire epithets against the liturgical staff and waxing sotto voce about the missed nudibranchs.

    She wished that (name withheld to protect the not so innocent) was struck dead
While visions of nudibranchs danced in her head.  

    This morning, not trusting our lackadaisical plumber any more than the nameless recruiter for Lutheran communion, I went for an early morning snorkel at Kahalu'u.  I got there just a bit after 7:30.  To my surprise, there were already six worthies snorkeling in the bay.  I soon joined them in water that was pleasantly cool and occasionally quite clear.  In the cloudy entry I spotted a smaller raccoon butterfly, that let me take his picture.  The photo quality was what you would expect in water filled with suspended particles and the mid-size raccoon had, as we discovered later, developed that trailing black crescent that is the hallmark of adult coloration, versus the juvenile that has no crescent and an occulus at two o'clock.  Or, as we say at the Fishwatcher's Bar and Grill, "It must be two o'clock somewhere."

Orange Spine Unicornfish  Kahalu'u April 2019

    Out in the bay, while dodging my fellow early birds, I spotted this fine encrusted cone shell nestling in a niche halfway up a coral.  I picked him up and moved him to a perch, hoping that a cone shell hermit crab would emerge.  I took a couple pictures, this one being especially crisp.  What we see here, behind those elegantly illuminated urchin spines, is a cone shell snail.  If you look at the long aperture you will see the crimson margin of his foot.  Because the shell is so completely encrusted with coralline algae, it is impossible to tell just which cone shell we have here.  The one physical feature of the shell that helps in identification is the rounded shoulder. It is worth noting that
many cone shells live entirely in the sand.   Hence, it is very unlikely that this is the highly toxic textile cone, for example.  Hebrew cones, which we see regularly at K Bay, may live up on the coral.  Penniform and soldier cones are other possibilities; they have round shoulders, live out of the sand and are found in shallow water.

Hawksbill Turtle with Sharp Tomiuum Kahalu'u April 2019

   I really thought that handsome red lining on the foot would be diagnostic.

   As an aside, didn't Little black Sambo have red linings on his slippers?  If he was a mollusc, perhaps we should consider him.

   There are few pictures that I could find of cone shell snails with their foot extended and none of those (that I could find) had a red lining.  Perhaps the foot changes color when the animal is hunting.  Is it possible that the cone somehow realizes that it is covered with red coralline algae and adjusts the foot color accordingly?

   With these questions swimming in our bemused sensorium we continued our journey around the bay.   Here is a cracker jack orange spine unicornfish that crossed our path shortly after the cone shell encounter.

    Over by the Rescue Shelter I encountered a small sea turtle.  Primed by my discussion of the small hawksbill with the photographer in the shower my last (benighted) time at Kahalu'u, I took special note of this amphibious reptile. Sandra and I had looked at pictures of the two turtles a week ago and decided that distinguishing between the two wasn't nearly as obvious as one might hope.  Yes, the beak is sharper on the hawksbill, but maybe not all that much..

Hawksbill Turtle With Clawed Flipper  Kahalu'u April 2019

Another nebulous field mark is the relatively more prominent spots on the head.

   It wasn't until I got home and Sandra attacked the books that we discovered that the hawksbill turtle has two distinct claws on each front flipper.  Perhaps it should be called the claw footed turtle.  Of course, the hawksbill does have a sharp, pointed snout known as a tomium, which is clearly seen in today's pictures.

    Sandra remembered our close encounter with a friendly green sea turtle at Kawaihae and I am including a couple pictures of that guy as a foil for the hawksbill.   

    As I was working on this blog, the morning was wearing on and Sandra said, "Today is our anniversary.  Why don't you take me to Harbor House for lunch."  What can I say?  The girl likes a Philly cheese steak and  Fire rock pale ale.

Green Sea Turtle,  Kawaihae  2018  No Collusin ...or is it no Tomium

   While we dined, we discussed life back at the ranch.  A few days ago we had trapped a gecko that had made it back into the house twice after being taken for a walk.  On that day he got taken for a drive across Lako to the end of Kilohana, just short of a mile, and three hundred vertical feet, from
our home.  I said to Sandra, give me another week and I'll bet that the gecko makes it back to our house before Danny (name changed to protect the tardy) comes to fix the faucet.   Weren't we surprised when we got home to find our plumber hard at work.  Lucky for me, Sandra didn't take the bet.  And lucky for both of us, and I suppose our house exchanging friends, too, that the faucet is fixed.

  My advice:   As you stumble to your stool at the Fishwatcher's Bar and Grill, don't forget that hawksbill at K Bay.  A life turtle on the rocks, please, with a side of cone shell sliders. 

jeff

No Tomium, No Problem.