The Fisherman Strikes Back

    Before beginning, I guess I need to apologize to my loyal readers.  I really should have put together a blog before now.

   A few interesting things have happened since we last met, we have seen a few good fish and taken at

Fishing Doesn't Have to be Confrontational

least one good picture.

   Perhaps the most interesting thing that has occurred involved your humble correspondent getting attacked by a fisherman.  Ten days ago I went snorkeling at the pier.  I didn't see much of interest on the way out.  Thinking of the barracuda that Sandra and Kim saw a week or so before, I swam into the shallows.  As I swam I was aware of a number of fisherman on the sea wall.  They were fishing for a large school of big eye scad that is locally known as the bait ball.  The bait ball usually hangs outside the fourth swim buoy, so when it comes near shore, for whatever reason, the fisherman come out to try their luck.  I didn't see the barracuda, but there was a quartet of barred jacks that were harassing the scad.   While I was watching the ulua, I sensed something flying over my head.  Immediately there after a shiny weighted lure with a treble hook went whipping by my face, no more than two feet away.

   Suffice it to say, this got my attention.  I looked up and a fisherman yelled at me.  He yelled, "Back off!"  Ever the diplomat, I replied, "I'm calling the police!"  I had the chance to appraise the geography of this encounter from both the seaward, and later, the land perspectives.  I'm sure that I was no closer than 25 yards to that fisherman and I had no idea they were fishing that far out into the bay.  Obviously I was wrong about that.  Since then I have wondered if that guy

Which of those fish is Sunny and which one is me?

was skillful enough to put the hook in front of my face or if he would have been equally happy to skewer me.  Now I know what its like to be a scad.  And I don't especially recommend it.









    The next day Sandra and I went swimming with Sunny and Kim from the Methodist Church.  Even though my assailant was not present on the seawall, I warned Sunny to stay away from the fisherman, lest she become a variant on the loaves and fishes story.  On the way out she followed Sandra, and I went searching for something special.  I took note of a wrasse that seemed a little different

There should be a sign for the ultra-plain disappearing wrasse

schooling with some immature belted wrasse.  I dove down and got a quick look before the fish swam under a rock, never to return.  Before he vanished I saw a couple fine blue streaks beneath and behind his jaw. When we got home I was pleased to note that this is the major field mark for the disappearing wrasse.  I didn't get a picture of this fish (he was too spooky) but even if I had it wouldn't be worth showing.  This is one exceedingly plain fish; a trout shaped fish colored a uniform washed out pink with no other markings  When I told her about it, Sandra said that the disappearing wrasse, in his plainness  must be Amish.

   We were able to show Sunny a turtle hanging out on the bottom and bore her half to death with a brief, on the spot lecture on sea turtle respiratory physiology.  As you will recall, sea turtles are unique among vertebrates in that they tolerate an incredibly low brain oxygen tension, buffer their accumulated CO2 to an amazing extent and restore their oxygen and dump their carbon

What?  No Warning Label?

dioxide with two quick puffs.  I'm surprised Sunny didn't fall asleep, lose her grip on the noodle and drift down to join the turtle on the bottom.

   And where was Kim Davison?  How did she get out of the lecture?  As we started our swim, Kim was showing off her copy of John Hoover's fish book rendered in water resistant paper.  As we were swimming out, Kim was attempting to use her new fish identification tool and made herself seasick.  Hence, by the time the lecture started she was halfway back to shore.  Perhaps John Hoover should include a warning in the forward to the book.  Don't read while swimming if you are prone to motion sickness.

    Four or five days later we received an emergency text from Peter...the threadfin jack was back at Mahukona.  As you will recall, this is the juvenile of the African Pompano, a large member of the jack family.  These relatively small diamond shaped fish develop long streamers that trail back from their dorsal and ventral fins.  It is thought that these fringes may imitate the tentacles of a Man of War jellyfish.  Sandra will tell you that the Man of

Sunny (under the halo), Sandra and Kim

War is not actually a jellyfish, but rather a different class of Cnidarian, a siphonophore. Unlike a normal jellyfish,
which is a single multi-cellular animal,  a Man of War is a collection of specialized individual animals.  And there goes Sunny falling asleep again.  


   At any rate,  the next morning Sandra and I left really early and met Peter at Mahukona around 8:30.  In the water, which was high and peaceful, Peter first directed us to a rocky area at the end of the pier where he found a leaf scorpionfish.  As you can see, this guy was a light gray and sufficiently cooperative for us to get a picture.

   We then went looking for the threadfin jacks.  About ten minutes into our search a snorkeler nearby made a hell of a commotion.  He had seen the jacks and chased them, I suppose to get a better look.  Peter interrogated the culprit and there was little doubt that this was what had transpired.   Try as we might over

So you tell me,

the next 40 minutes, we were unable find the jacks. Sandra did find a blacklip butterflyfish which hid under a rock before she could get me onto it.  It was a solid identification in as much as she reported the field mark, a blue forehead, as opposed to saying she saw a Klein's or blacklip butterfly.  If any of you are keeping track, she is now up two fish on me for 2017 (counting the barracuda).  Back ashore, Peter was impressed, as he and Marla had thought that the blacklips were no longer at Mahukona.

    Two days ago Sandra and I went down to Ho'okena.  It is a testimony to how lazy I have become, that this was our first trip to that wonderful bay in 2017.   We got there early and had the beach pretty much to ourselves.  In the water, which was warm and calm,  we saw the four fish we needed in short order.  (flame angelfish, gilded triggerfish, Hawaiian garden eel and bridled triggerfish)  We also saw three

Does a Threadfin Jack really remind you of a Man of War?

species of starfish: linkia, cushion and crown of thorns.  Or is it Game of Thrones?  Those  four fish bring the year's list to 151, which for some reason reminds me of a zombie that one of my friends ordered at a bar back in 1968.  Ancient memories aside, it was noteworthy that as we found ourselves leaving at roughly 10:30 on a Friday morning, the parking lot at this out of the way beach park was brimming with cars.  So much so that the couple that sidled into our spot thanked us profusely for leaving.  Not the first time I have been thanked for leaving.

   I guess if you're gonna go snorkeling in Kona, you gotta get up early.  And watch out for the fishermen.

jeff

Leaf Scorpionfish,  Mahukona  July 2017

         

Swimming With the Church Ladies

   About a year ago, our church received a new pastor, the Reverend Sunny Ahn.  Sunny is a Korean girl who grew up in The San Fernando Valley, after emigrating as  a young teen.  To the best of my knowledge her posting at the Kona United Methodist Church was her first as head pastor.  And she wasn't entirely happy

Sandra, Jeff, Sunny and Kim Prepare to Snorkel Kailua Pier

about it.  She had come from a wealthy church in the east Bay where she was in charge of Asian Community relations...or something like that.  She really enjoyed living in the Bay Area and she was afraid of bugs and geckos.  Picture the bishop (who hauled her away from her urban bliss) as Eddie Albert and Sunny as Eva Gabor.

    At any rate, being a child of God, she embraced her new ministry with appropriate zeal.  A portion of her enthusiasm was directed at forming a variety of little ministries, one of which was the snorkeling/swimming ministry with your humble correspondent as program director.  The ministry, such as it was, lasted four or five sessions.  These sessions included only Sandra, Sunny and Kim, who is a really nice church lady serving as Sunny's adjutant.  And myself, of course.   In September Sunny went on one of her really quick trips to Europe ( a girl can't stay home all the time).  By  October the water was too cold.

Day Octopus, Kailua Pier June 2017

   The swimming ministry resumed in mid-June, when the water temperature achieved sufficient heavenliness.  As before, we were still at the pier, but this time we were joined by Judy and Darlene.  These latter had just emigrated from Concrete, Washington.  Judy is a little older and is recovering from a stroke.  Darlene is a
lifelong friend, a little younger, and is living with Judy as her care giver. They stayed on the narrow beach in lawn chairs while the Fearless Foursome went snorkeling.

    Despite growing up in Los Angeles, Sunny came to Kona more than a little afraid of the water (you can add the ocean to bugs and geckos).  We had been working through that when the swimming lessons stopped in October.  She now wore a wet suit, augmenting flotation to her yellow noodle, so it should have been impossible to sink.  Indeed, she put on her full face mask and we all headed out.

   This outing was highlighted by a superb octopus siting.  This stalwart was on a coral head halfway between the third swim buoy and the shore, so the top of the coral was only three or four feet below the surface.  He was a beautiful animal, doing all the octopus tricks...changing colors and textures, adopting different postures. He hung around so long that we eventually swam away with him still perched on top of his coral

throne.

    I sang my version of the doxology to the octopus and I was more than a little dismayed that my spiritual

Blue Goatfish. Kailua Kona Pier 2017  The flash reveals a face pattern.

advisor didn't join in.  She has a beautiful voice and if ever an octopus invoked the Holy Spirit this was the guy. Later on I would mention this to her in a tweet and she responded with a non-sequitur bible verse:
"Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification." (Romans 14:19)
which I took as a pastoral way of saying,"Mind your own business."

   On the way back to shore, Kim spotted a male Pacific boxfish.  She is getting into fish watching and on her own volition (with a little guidance from the Redoubtable SKG) has purchased a copy of the bible...John Hoover's Ultimate Guide to Heavenly Hawaiian Fishes.  After she enjoyed the boxfish I promised her a Whitley's trunkfish.

   Back ashore we reconnoitered with Darlene and Judy.  Being basically a softy, and knowing that Judy really wanted to get in the water (we are told that prior to the stroke she was an avid snorkeler), I helped her into the water where she floated around for a minute or two.  She tired fairly quickly, which was not a

Pacific Boxfish, Mahukona 2017

surprise and Darlene and I helped her ashore through the small surf which was lapping on the Ironman beach.  It has been one of my big hopes that if I ever am so afflicted, that someone will strap a mask on me and float me out to see the fish.

    The following Friday Sandra was sick, but she was kind enough to encourage me to go snorkeling with the church ladies.  It could be that she thought she would get better rest and recuperation with me out of the house for a few hours.

   Down at the pier I met up with Kim and Sunny.  We were joined by Terri, a lady of about my age, which is to say not especially young.  Like Judy, Terri had in her past been a diver and had a modest interest in marine wildlife.  As we were getting into the water, I learned that Terri was recovering from some sort of leg injury.

   Almost immediately I spotted an octopus just a yard or two off the sand.  He was in a depression in the coral head and in the process of hunkering down.  I got Terri over in time to see him before he disappeared.  At the last I could see his muscular arm, suction cups fully extended, as he manipulated two rocks in front of his body, effectively sealing the opening to the coral hide away.   I had read about this behavior, but never witnessed it first hand.   What an amazingly clever mollusc the octopus can be.  Here is a couplet that fits in to my version of Guantanamera:

Soy un pulpo en la bahia,
Que busca un coral amparo.

I am an octopus in the bay / Searching for a coral refuge.

   As we will see, an octopus can never be too careful.  

   We can all hum that Latin American favorite while I tell you what happened next.  We swam into the bay,

Devil Scorpionfish    All ya gotta do is drop a rock on him.

with me making scouting runs from Sunny, leading with the yellow noodle, Kim and Terry on each side.  Near the third swim buoy I spotted a devil scorpionfish.  Luckily, the church ladies weren't too far away and I was able to get them on the fish.  He was only about seven feet down, so they could see him clearly.  I explained about the orange and yellow pectoral fins and swam down and waved at the fish to encourage him to swim.   He was having none of it so I found a piece of coral rubble and dropped it a few inches from the fish. Still no swimming so I dove for another piece of rubble and sorta dropped it on the fish.  Well, that made him swim to shrieks of delight from my companions.

    A bit later I found Kim her Whitley's trunkfish.    At this point the distaff portion of the expedition headed for the beach.  I stayed out a while longer and was rewarded with a milletseed butterfly.  Before I could attempt a really good picture, he made his way into a coral and did not come out.

     Finally, on Sunday the church had a picnic at Old Airport Beach.   After we arrived, we realized that this was mostly a function for the Samoan contingent of the congregation.  In fact, there was Sandra and myself, the Jaegers, who had to come, two Koreans and 25 to 30 Samoans.

Whitley's Trunkfish, Kailua Pier 2017

   The congregation of our church is remarkably divided.  Roughly 50% are Caucasian, Japanese or some usual Hawaiian mix.  In his landmark novel, Hawaii, published in 1959, James Michener remarked on the new Hawaiian racial mix.  I believe he called it the golden man.  While it is quite common to find people who are pretty much Japanese or Philippino, it is equally common to encounter the Hawaiian mix.  For example, my good friend Jennifer Loasalio, the librarian, is Hawaiian, Philippine, Chinese and Portuguese.  I hope I got that right, but I'm sure you get the point.  A great many people living in Hawaii carry the genome of a variety of Asian and Caucasian peoples.  No wonder Jefferson Beauregard Sessions doesn't like our #islandinthe pacific.  That sort of miscegenation must make his pappy spin around in his moldering clan robe.

     Getting back to the church, 35% are Samoan and 15 % are Tongan.  suffice it to say, these other groups play a significant part in the operation of the church, the worship service, etc.  But they do not mix willingly with that aforementioned 50%.  And the Tongans and Samoans don't mix much with each other, as far as Sandra and I can tell. In addition to the regular service, they have their own.  There is a moderately large open building on the church property where the Samoans retire after church to smoke and have their own fellowship.  It is possible that they harbor traditional Samoan and Tongan religious beliefs.  Certainly in their separate services they engage in cultural activities not usually found in a Methodist church.  For example, the Tongans perform a kava ceremony.  There is no way for us to know the extent of these beliefs and activities.

   Samoa is an interesting place.  American Samoa is a large single island with a few much smaller islands.  It is a US Territory.  Samoa, formerly Western Samoa, is two large islands governed since the second world war by New Zealand.  It has been an independent country since 1967 and belongs to the Commonwealth.

At the Picnic

   Curiously, and this is only as far as we can tell,  virtually all the older Samoans in our church, the ones who
actually emigrated from Samoa to Hawaii, are from Samoa.   However, they make it clear that they were born in American Samoa.  One hears about Mexicans who cross the border so their children can be born in the United States and it appears that the same is true of Samoans.  Having said that, not everyone born in American Samoa is automatically granted US citizenship.  55,000 souls live in American Samoa and 185,000 live in Samoa. 

  So here we were on the blazing hot beach.  This afforded us the opportunity to visit with the few Samoans who will talk to us and Sunny's husband Sung.   Sung is a very amiable fellow of substantial girth.   When I asked him if he was excited about Sunny's experience with the octopi his repose, and this did not change no matter how much I pleaded the cephalopod's case, was that his only interest in octopus was in the eating.  They are delicious and should be consumed as quickly as possible.  There was one Samoan lady who was obligated to sit with us (as far as we could tell).  Peteh is the wife of Navy Mareko, the lay leader of the Samoan congregation and the pater familas of one of the clans, there in. Peteh was of the same mind as Seung; if there was a known octopus, someone should go out and get it (for the pot.)  I felt like saying,  "Don't you have any respect for God's

Honor thy mother, thy father and thy octopus!

creatures?  Don't you know when you kill an octopus it makes Jesus cry?"


    Sadly, there is no biblical basis for venerating or even protecting wild animals, be they moose or octopi.  In fact, the closest the bible comes to dealing with these animals is old testament scripture stating whether or not a Hebrew is permitted to eat them.  The new testament is even worse.  No matter how I might wish it, there is no gospel evidence that Jesus gave wild animals a single thought.  At times like this,  I have to wonder if I am in the right church.  For now, it seems that Sandra and I we will have our own little contingent of two and revere the octopus in a private ceremony. 

Praise Octopus the Holy Ghost,
jeff

    

       

What's New At Mahukona.

   Yesterday we were lucky enough to go snorkeling with our friends Peter and Marla at Mahukona.   Living in the vicinity of Hawi, this is their home court for snorkeling, so their observations and skill were much appreciated.  The wave and tide predictors did their job correctly this time and the water was flat.  As is often the case at this spot six miles from the northern tip of the island,

Mahukona with Colorful Floats

there was a strong breeze, blowing about 15 knots from the northeast.

    There were some fleecy clouds and the sun shone down gloriously on the little cove.  A sense of holiday was provided by a couple of colorful floating toys on the far side of the water.  It wasn't at all clear to me why they didn't blow out to sea.  If the wind held true they might make Oaxaca by supper time.  I suppose they were anchored.

   We noted a significant encampment on the bluff at the head of the cove.  The area devoted to this semi-permanent camp was closed off by a locked gate, so even if one wanted to explore the situation, make friends with the natives, as it were, this was clearly discouraged.  A puzzling 
aspect of this beach park is the inordinate number of flies, which are a bit of a plague despite the prevailing
wind.  My current thought is that the flies are blown over from the camp, which might be a pretty good

Blacklip Butterfly is not currently at Mahukona

reason not to visit, gate or no gate.  Unless, of course, you really like flies.

   My last word on the campers and their flies, is in the spirit of Walter Sobchak from the Big Lebowski (that rug really tied the room together); the campers really tie the fly situation together. It should be noted that those large floatables appeared unoccupied and I speculated that the campers were imposing their will upon the cove and its hau'oli visitors with an, albeit festively colored, modern presence that negatively impacted the natural landscape.  Its possible that if Walter was there he would have put a few rounds in the floatables, thus taking care of the problem and making this prolonged digression moot.


   Anyway, it was a beautiful day, the water was clear and away we swam.  Our hosts had warned us that there had a been a change in the aquafauana over the last year.  When last you visited this bay with your humble correspondent, we shared a close look at Klein's (blacklip) butterflyfish and the fantailed filefish.  Peter had told us us that these two specialties were not there any more.  No matter how hard I searched the

Spectacled Parrot and Indo=Pacific Sergeant, Mahukona 2017

relatively shallow bay where they had been the previous year, I could not refute his admonition.  Que lastima.

   However, this did not mean that there was nothing good to see.  Almost immediately, Peter pointed out a female regal parrotfish.  This is a medium sized reef fish beige on beige and would be really difficult to photograph.  So Sandra and I ticked it off and moved seaward where we enjoyed a big beautiful male spectacled parrotfish.  I regret that my picture does not capture all the beauty of this fish.  In addition to the aqua stripe across the nose, that to some looks like a pair of  spectacles, this big boy had a rosy flank.  Hoover shows the spectacled parrot as just greens and blues, so this really was a very colorful fish. We got within fifteen feet and our look was a lot better than my picture might suggest.  It was really exciting.

    You might just note that included in the picture is an Indo-Pacific sergeant.  I used to see this fish at Kona

Five Stripe Wrasse juv. Mahukona 2017  Easily Overlooked

Maaki, but as we rarely swim that difficult entry, I am not sure that it is still there.  At any rate, it was another fish for the 2017 list.  

   When we reconnoitered with our host, Peter asked if we needed five stripe wrasse.  You will recall this is a very uncommon fish of the shallow, wave washed reef.  He took us a bit further north and, indeed, over the shallow lava carpeted with a bit of dying coral, we were treated to several juvenile five stripes.  We agreed that these were hardly as colorful as adult males.  In my pictures, they mostly look black.  When the sun hit these little trouts just right, one got the impression of a blue flank and pink and aqua lines on the face.  There were no males that we could find.  So subtle were these initial phase fish, that I have to compliment Peter's keen observational skills; they might easily have been overlooked.

Compare with a Five Stripe Wrasse on the PAR Jan. 2014.  Big difference!

  After enjoying the five stripes, Peter suggested that we swim across the bay to the south shore.  We traversed a nice, deep portion of the reef with good visibility down to what I would guess was 40 feet.  I was hoping for an angelfish, maybe some garden eels in the sand parts, but we saw nothing new.  On that far shore, however, I spotted a female Hawaiian Hogfish.  Although we see an immature hogfish almost every summer, this was the first adult I had seen in several years. She was a beauty and allowed me to get within

Hawaiian Hogfish  female 2017 Mahukona

fifteen feet or so.  These are clearly the best pictures of the day.

    For those of you eager to add this uncommon fish to your list, Marla said that it is not unusual to see a female Hawaiian hogfish at Mahukona.   

   Happily, we were invited to lunch.  As we followed Peter and Marla up through Hawi, I tabulated five fish that I would add to the list for 2017; not to mention one fine invertebrate, the cushion starfish. Our hosts live in Kapa'au, a few miles past the King Kamehmeha statue.   Sandra noted, as we made the turn off the main road, that if you drove just a few miles further you would achieve the spot where, were you not paying close attention, you might plunge off the edge of the earth.

    As it turns out,our hosts live on a charmingly bucolic estate full of swaying palms, fruit trees of every ilk and cooling trade winds.  Marla has planted lovely flowers around the yard... it really is a piece of heaven.  While Marla puttered about the kitchen, preparing a Mexican lunch featuring guacamole and ceviche, Peter hauled out a volume related to their work in Samoa.  (You will recall that our hosts are real scientists who actually get paid to

King Kamehameha welcomes you to Kapa'au

travel to Samoa and assess the ecology.)  In the preface to Peter's book was a map of the Pacific, with contour lines showing the decrease in fish diversity from the epicenter somewhere north of western Australia.  Approaching a map like a scientist, he taught me a new word: Isopleth.  An isopleth, as it turns out, is any line that denotes a change in a specified parameter.  Those contour lines on a topographical map and the isobars on a weather map are examples of isopleths,  I suggest you file this word away, pulling it out to defeat your competitors the next time you play scrabble.

     I am including a similar map purloined from Mr. Google which is not exactly like Peter's, but gives you a rough idea. The isopleths were drawn differently on Peter's map and it is to those that I will refer.

   I love maps and this one really caught my attention.  Bali, where we have enjoyed such marvelous fish watching, is inside the isopleth denoting the greatest degree of fish diversity.  So is the southern portion of the Phillipines, where one might choose to go snorkeling if he doesn't mind being kidnapped.  However, the Great Barrier Reef and most of Thailand are not in within this prime isopleth.  Samoa, where Peter and Marla go twice a year, is outside yet

Fish diversity in the Pacific.  Not exactly isopleths.

another.  And so is Fiji.  It is no surprise that the Hawaiian archipelago, being vastly separated from the rest of the islands in the tropical Pacific, gets its only little isopleth

   We had a delicious lunch and lots of fine conversation.  By mid-afternoon, Marla had loaded us down with fruits from her trees and we were on our way back to Kailua.  As we drove, my sweetie told me that she had a sore throat and she was sure she was getting sick.

   Ignoring all the victims, including yours truly, who would be exposed to Typhiod Sandra, my warped mind transformed this information into a new travel tool. The next time you have a whopping good case of bronchitis, not so uncommon these days in these very Sandwich Islands, expectorate on a map roughly corresponding to your chosen vacation destination.  The outline of this glob then becomes your isophlegm  and there in should you expose yourself to the wonders of the world, not to mention the infectious diseases that it has to offer. 

Ca. sandraii.  Greetings from the penultimate Isophlegm!

I present this method in lieu of tacking a map to the side of your barn and throwing darts, although that may be equally effective, not to mention less provocative from an epidemiological point of view.

   Well, sure enough Sandra is sick and I'm probably next.  We hope our dear friends in Kapa'au are in the pink of heath and that there are lots of good adventures in their future.  And your future, as well

jeff 

Hawaiian Hogfish, Mahukona July 2017

Potter's Gets Cleaned at City of Refuge Or The Snorkelkids Meet the Dragon Flower

   Today we went to City of Refuge for the first time in, like, forever.  Although city is one of our favorite snorkeling spots, rough ocean conditions earlier in the year kept us away.  More recently, we have been

Seven Eleven Crab, C maculatus  City of Refuge  June 2017

dealing with busy schedules.  But really, there is no excuse.  City is a great place to go snorkeling and we are appropriately ashamed.

   We arrived early, about 8:30 AM, and we were in the water by 9.  As one would expect, it being almost the 4th of July, the water was a very pleasant temperature and for the most part fairly clear.  We swam along looking at the usual suspects until about ten yards ahead a thirty something young man yelled, "Hey dad!  Come here!  Its a great big crab!"

   Well,  I wasn't his father,as far as we know, but I got there in advance of the pater familias.  What they had was a seven eleven crab hunkered down under a rock in about ten feet.  As Sandra noted, this was pretty good spotting,  Although this is indeed a pretty big crab, he isn't all that brightly colored and he was pretty deep.  She thinks the youth in question made a random dive and got lucky.  We dove the crab several times

Potter's Angelfish and City of Refuge, June 2017

for pictures and thanked the young man for his fine spot.

   Moving along, we enjoyed a large number of menpachi, as epaulette soldier fish are known in these Very Sandwich Islands.  Its interesting that when a fish is highly edible, it is known commonly by a Hawaiian or Japanese name.  The epaulette soldierfish is a delicacy, like opihi, which is served by locals at weddings, graduations, etc. If they weren't edible we would know them simply as soldierfish and limpets.

    Looking at all the soldierfish and squirrelfish, we were lucky enough to spot a bigeye out in the open and a brick soldierfish, which I have not seen in a while.  Both these fish were skittish enough that when I dove for a picture, they retreated to cover.  Before we turned around, I spotted a Potter's angelfish that was being cleaned in about ten feet of clear water.  Cleaner wrasses, as we have noted in the

Spiteful Cone 

past, can be quite an asset to the fish photographer. In this case, the shy Potters just hung there in the clear water twelve feet down, while I dove for a few pictures.  You will note that this fish does not have a very red head and I speculate that it is either young or a female.  Never the less, this was a fantastic opportunity and I have to give the cleaner wrasse a lot of credit.

   Before we made the club house turn, we enjoyed a handsome spiteful cone sitting peacefully on a ledge about eight feet down.  Diving the poisonous snail, we were able to see the venomous mollusc lurking inside the shell.


   On the way back in, we were treated to a pair of Hawaiian dascyllus spawning.  Wearing very black faces and tails, which contrasted nicely with their virtually white flanks, this elegant pair circled each other and wiggled frenetically over a patch of stones for about a minute.  Following the courtship, one took off
(probably the female) and one remained, inspecting the spot where the deed was done and making modest efforts to keep other fish and humans at bay.

Spawning pattern, Hawaiian Dascyllus

   Back on shore we reclined in our chairs and had tea, or possibly lunch.  It certainly wasn't brunch, because who in their gastronomic mind would call a salami and cheese sandwich brunch?  As we were finishing, the dolphin pod came in a d gave everyone a great show quite close to shore.

   Before heading home we decided to take the one lane road across the desert to Napo'opo'o.  About halfway across we encountered a miracle of nature. The scraggly cactus that we see here in Kona was in bloom.  There were lots of large white flowers poking out at us from the side of the road.  I found a pull out and sweetie disembarked to take the picture you see here.

   Our destination was the coffee company about two miles up the hill from Napo'opo'o.  There we met Angel, who was wearing a Guadalupe hat.  I guess if you are wearing a hat emblazoned with the Virgin 
(pronounced beer-hen) it is odds on that you are Mexican.  That was indeed the case, Angel hailing from Michoacan, was full of good cheer.    We had a great time telling tales of the land of Montezuma.

A Kona Still Life    Pomegranate, Egg Fruit and Aguacate

 Before saying adios, we purchased a pomegranate and an egg fruit, for although they would like to sell you coffee and chocolate covered Mac nuts at great expense, this tienda frequently has unusual local fruits and vegetables at a reasonable price..

   We got the pomegranate because Sandra said it would make excellent coleslaw and we got the egg fruit because I'd never seen one before.  Angel said they had an acre or so of egg fruit trees  (Pouteria campechiana)  up the hill.  The tree is an evergreen tree native to Mexico.  The fruit is the size of a small apple.  One is required to wait until the fruit starts to get soft before cutting into it and enjoying its dry, sweet flesh.  It is not clear if there is an historical basis for the Mexican folk tale in which Guillermo Tell saves the pueblo from the local bully (who may or may not appear in Donald Trump's genealogy) by shooting an egg fruit off his son's head with a  pistol similar to the one that Martin Short used to defeat El Guapo in The

Dragon Fruit Blossom  photo by Sandra Gray

Three Amigos. 

   Just as we were ready to depart, I asked Angel if he would like to see the pictures that Sandra had taken of the amazing blooming cacti. He graciously looked at our pics and said that they looked a lot like dragon fruit flowers.  Of course, he was exactly right and too polite to mock us.  The creeping cactus that grows commonly near the beach is indeed dragon fruit cactus.  Hylocerus undatus, that green scruffy looking cactus, is seen everywhere along our roads and rock walls.  In my consummate ignorance, I had no idea that it was the source of  that oddly shaped red fruit we know as dragon fruit or pitaya.   We see the fruit in the markets occasionally, so I would guess that it is cultivated.  In the wild, it flowers following a large amount of rain.  Well, the recent Kona weather has certainly punched that ticket. The flowers, one of the largest produced by any cactus, turn to fruit over four weeks.  Suffice it to say, it is our intent to get back to those cactus in a few weeks and catch a swim at City in the process.  I hope you enjoy Sandra's wonderful pictures and the next time you see dragon fruit in the market you can put it together with the large yellow and white flower and the scraggly roadside cactus.

    Back at Casa Ono we are incubating our egg fruit with baited breath.  Stay tuned for the exciting tasting notes.

Harry Potter and the Curse of the Cleaner Wrasse

The Cauliflower Coral Caper

 A couple days after returning to Hawaii, I received a group email from a local biologist, Lindsey Kramer.  Lindsey works for the Department of Aquatic Resources, based in a trailer hard by the fuel dock at Honokohau harbour.  She is also the coordinator for a loose knit organization called Eyes of the Reef.  I suppose that my presence on the mailing list, makes me an EOR observer.

   The email I received heralded the moment when cauliflower coral, Pocilipora meandrina, would be, or

A Healthy Cauliflower Coral, Kailua Bay 2017

should be, spawning on the leeward side of the Big Island.  I'm sure many of you recall that the cauliflower coral took one hell of a hit n the summer of 2015, when the inshore ocean temperature went up above 90 degrees and stayed there for over a month.  Much of the coral, not just the cauliflower coral, expelled its symbiotic algae in response to the heat stress, bleached and died.  Lindsey's email suggested that 3 to 5% of the cauliflower corals survived this event.  My feeling is that this number is outlandishly high, at least in the Kona area.  In some locations (e.g. Paul Allen's Reef and the bay south of Magic Sands)  it was closer to 100%!  This is based on my observations in early 2016. Last year, a small amount of spawning was reported from City of Refuge.  In other areas in Kona there was none.  It was Ms. Kramer's hope that the EOR would spot multiple spawnings along our coast. 

   Cauliflower coral was so common that we took it for granted.  However, those of us in the business of

Lots of Fish , Lots of Dead Coral    Kailua Bay 2016

finding unusual fish and critters, have always been aware that this branching coral serves as a valuable hiding place.  It serves an important nursery function for some juvenile species of fish, it is home to some small and secretive species (e.g. coral croucher, speckled scorpionfish and fourstripe wrasse) and it serves as a protective home for a variety of hermit crabs.  Not only that, but about six months ago, while listening to Hawaii Public Radio, I learned that P. meandrina protects exposed shoreline, such as we have at Paul Allen's reef and Alii Villas by buffering the surf.  Suffice it to say, we are not taking cauliflower coral for granted any longer. 

   Since the summer of 2015, in some spots the cauliflowers and some other corals have been making a bit of a comeback, although the areas I mentioned above remain decimated.  One essential component of coral recovery is their ability to propagate.  It is possible to break off a piece of coral and attach it to a suitable spot in the sand or by physical means to a rock or piece of metal and it may grow.   But  hopefully recovery will be accomplished by spawning.

   Each species of coral spawns at a certain moment, based on the lunar cycle and water temperature.  At the

What Ant Doesn't Want to Eat a Bale of That?

genetically programmed moment all the coral of a species release their sperm and eggs.  There is a lipid component to these gametes, so they float to the surface, where they seek out a partner, joining to form an embryo.  In the case of coral, this embryo is called a planula. As our friends at NOAA explain:  Planulae float in the ocean, some for days and some for weeks, before dropping to the ocean floor. Then, depending on seafloor conditions, the planulae may attach to the substrate and grow into a new coral colony at the slow rate of about.4 inches a year.

   Most coral species spawn at night, but P. meandrina spawns just after sunrise. We have known about this for about ten years, going so far as to contact a coral biologist at UH Hilo to the find correct day.  But we have never taken the opportunity to get up early and be in the water at sunrise to observe the cauliflower coral spawning.

This Lovely Snapper Greeted Us Early Sunday Morning

     I have a friend at the Kona Public Library, Jennifer Lossalio, who is going to help us put together a display of paper mache Hawaiian dascyllus, to demonstrate the plight of the cauliflowers.  I was telling her this story and when I got to this part about not getting out to see the spawning in previous years I invoked Willie Nelson.  Willie has been quoted, referring to his colleague Waylon Jennings, that Waylon is too lazy to walk across the street to watch a piss ant eat a bale of hay.  It made Jen smile, but I'm sad to say that I may have been that lazy. 

    So last Sunday, we skipped church and  entered the water at the foot of the pier at about 6:45.  Knowing the water was cool, I encouraged Sandra to wear her wet suit.  We identified a few likely looking corals, paddling from one to another for about an hour, not seeing any spawning and getting progressively more chilled.  We waited till about 8 AM before getting out. It should be noted that there were a surprising number of reef fish swimming about, so it wasn't boring, just cold.

Lots of Stocky Hawkfish But No Planulae

   The following morning, Sandra had a doctors appointment so I went by myself.  On my walk to the pier, I crossed Alii Drive and spoke to one of the many anglers who were fishing from the sea wall.  While we were chatting,  the adjacent fisherman landed a fine scale triggerfish, perhaps the one Sandra and I were following the day before.

   The water wasn't any warmer, but I did meet, ever so briefly, a lady named Barbara, who was doing the same thing I was, swimming from coral to coral to basically no avail.  And there was still some fish watching to do.

   There is a certain genre of ladies around here who come to the beach to get in the water and paddle around and gossip.  On this morning two such were floating near the first swim buoy and I heard one exclaim to her friend, "I think he's looking at me!"   There was no way that I could resist that, so I swam over hoping for an octopus.  As it turned out, they had a scorpionfish and immediately started warning me to stay away.  Muy peligrosso!  So I dove down and held onto a nearby rock and got his picture.  I guess I'm a bit like the

I Swear he Was Looking At Me.  Devil Scorpionfish,  Kailua Bay  2017

barber in Penney Lane, with a picture of every stonefish I have known. (And the fishes that come and go, stop to say hello.)  This was my first Devil Scoriponfish for 2017, so I was very pleased.  In addition to being very cold.

  Sandra made her doctors appointment and the following day I saw my dermatologist who excised another skin cancer.  The healing wound kept me out of the water for the rest of the week.  On Friday we were perusing the paper at Jennifer's library and discovered that Kailua Bay had just reopened.  It had been closed to swimming starting Monday morning when a sewage leak was spotted near the King Kam Hotel.  I doubt that had anything to do with the coral spawning (or not) and I didn't get sick, but like so many things in life, I found it a curious coincidence.  If someone had checked the water sample a few hours earlier I wouldn't have met Barbara, or seen the stonefish and we would all be wondering whether or not the coral spawned.

   At the end of the day, we didn't see any coral blooming.  And neither did any of the other EOR watchers along the coast.  I suppose it is possible that a few planulae will float in and start infant coral heads in Kailua Bay.  Luckily, as you can see from my pictures, some of the surviving cauliflower coral is looking pretty good, so we have reason to hope that the normal life cycle will reassert itself next year. 

Spawn, Dammit!

   

The King Kamehameha Day Parade in Kona

The Royal Court of King Kamehameha

    Although this blog is primarily aimed at fish identification and events surrounding that most worthy of endeavors, occasionally we feel the need to talk about events happening on our #Island in the Pacific.  This blog falls into that category.

   Yesterday Sandra and I attended the King Kamehameha Day parade here in Kailua Kona.  This was

The Grand Marshall in Top Hat

substantially different than anything I might have expected, which might just show how oblivious I am to events happening around me.  After all, we have lived through at least three of these parades, which certainly make the news.  But I think you might be surprised at what we saw and my conclusions.

   The day was relatively cloudy and a bit cool for the season.  Because Sandra wanted to sit on the sea wall, we were facing east, into the rising sun.  The parade started at 9 AM as the first event in a day of dance, music and other festivities, so as we were sitting on the seawall, the sun was rising in the east.  

   The parade was different in another mundane way (aside from occurring in the morning instead of the late afternoon)  It progressed form the Royal Polynesian resort in the south, north to the old airport; the opposite of all other parades that invariably go from north to south.

    I figured that this would be a fun, festive parade with kids on floats and bands, and there was  a little of that, but basically this was a parade of equestrian groups representing all the islands.  These groups were termed Pa'u units.  They consisted of from three to five women and two men, all riding horses bedecked with leis of plants relating to the pa'u tradition of their particular island. 

   All these horses were brought into Kailua Kona along with their riders.  As you see, the women are clothed in remarkable fashion, the men to a slightly lesser extent, but still consistent with their island theme.

   Pa'u means skirt. You will note that the women are riding astride their mounts and wearing a long culotte, hence the pa'u.  These outfits date back to the introduction of horses in the Hawaiian Islands, the year 1805.  At that time only the Alii were permitted to ride and the Alii women formed the first pa'u groups.  After the royal Hawaiian government was overthrown by the United States military, the pa'u tradition withered.  The

The Pa'u Queen

tradition was brought back about fifty years later and women and their male attendants have been riding in pa'u units for over a hundred years.

   You may recall that I said at the beginning that this procession was not frivolous.  In fact, there was little cheering as the 19 equestrian groups paraded by.  Most were mounted, but there were a couple horse drawn carriages.  The Grand marshall in top hat, drawn by two magnificent draft horses.  And before I go on, I need to mention that the parade was started by a male Royal Court, dressed in alii garb, lead by bearers of kahilis, those feather dusters on steroids that the royal Hawaiians used as standards.

   There was a queen with her own mounted court astride big, strong horses, and she, in fact, was a big strong woman, not some wimpy homecoming queen type.  Each pa'u group that followed was in the color traditional to their island.  In addition (and this surprised me) each island sent a pa'u unit to Honolulu for their King Kamehmeha Day parade.

   So here is my take.  As you may know, there is a significant movement to bring back the royal Hawaiian

Princess Raisha Karratti and the Hawaii Island court

government.  When he was campaigning here, John Kasich was asked what he thought about it and was quoted as saying he was unaware of it.  And why should he be...its not like its really going to happen.  But the Hawaiians take it seriously.  One sees lots of bumper stickers and such supporting the idea.  

   I believe these pa'u groups are representing that ideal.  The mounted princesses were mostly at least part

The Roving Marshalls Brought Peace to Alii Drive

Hawaiian, they represent the deposed government.  The mounted princesses held themselves with a restrained grace as they gave signs of greeting to the crowd.  and at the end of the day, we do live in a Hawaii that until recently (in the great scheme of the universe)  was ruled by the Hawaiians.

We're Back in Kailua and So Is the Milletseed

     After a two month hiatus, during which we exposed ourselves to art in the low countries and hobnobbed with our friends and relatives in the PNW, we have returned to our beloved Kailua Kona.  Although we

Milletseed Butterflyfish,  Kailua Kona,  June 2017

were too exhausted to go snorkeling the day of our arrival, I hit the pier and Kahalu'u on the following two days.

    It only took a moment, as I swam out by the swim buoys on the Ironman side, to know that I had returned at the right time for snorkeling.  The water was really flat and just a little cool.  At 8:30 in the morning there
were already plenty of fish doing their thing among the coral that really looked pretty good. The recreational swimmers were plying the lane beside the buoys, their numbers somewhat reduced from peak tourist season.

   I swam out to the area where, just before we departed for the art of Amsterdam, I had seen the trio of sharks.  I didn't see them that morning and there was no one familiar on the pier to ask for an update.  Swimming seaward I was joined by a turtle who swam right up to me and hung on the surface for a minute catching his breath.  And then a little further out, we hit pay dirt in the form of a single Milletseed

Six Red Labrids  Coris Gaimard,juv

Butterflyfish.

    The milletseed was once seen in large schools while snorkeling in Kailua Kona, but now the individuals that appear at snorkeling depth are so rare that I wonder each time if this will be the last one I will see.  I did not see any in 2015 and saw but one in April of 2016.  I hope to see more than one this year, but I'm not holding my breath.    I did need to hold my breath to get the picture you see here.  This milletseed was in the deep spot past the last swim buoy where we sometimes see scribbled filefish, about 12 feet down.  A
couple good dives and we nabbed the photo.

Yellotail Coris  Terminal Male  Kahalu'u June 2017

    The following day I went down to Kahalu'u.  Sandra tagged along, but didn't swim, choosing instead to work the crowd under the big top.  The tide was out, so I crawled through the sand channel like some amphibious creature from Disney's Rite of Spring.   It was early so there were not a lot of swimmers, but
there was a nice variety of fish. A tiny four spot butterfly was playing hide and seek around a rock near the entrance, but my efforts to get his picture were futile.

The Rubenesque Mermaid by Mary Deveraux

     A patch of shallow coral yielded a novel site: six red labrid wrasses swimming together in a school.  Coris gaimard, schooling together.It made for an interesting sight.  A few moments later, their proud father cruised by and I nabbed his picture as well.

    Occasionally one sees this juvenile (that the uninitiated mistake for Nemo) swimming with a school of small mixed fry.  Its not unusual to see aggregations of baby belted wrasse,for example, but I have never seen a large grouping solely of this species swimming together.  In addition, these youngsters were very approachable.  Usually I encounter a single red labrid juvenile who does his best to elude my photographic efforts.  I'll be back to Kahalu'u soon and I won't be surprised to see this group still hanging out together.  Maybe I'll see you there, as well.

    Over by the decommissioned hotel, hoping for an octopus, my swim was interrupted by a Rubenesque young woman who took a break from swimming to stand on a patch of sand that happened to be right in my path. She was wearing a mask but swimming barefoot.  Having just returned from the art museums of Holland, I was bemused by the idea that she might be a mermaid model for Peter Paul Rubens.  And I wondered, did that giant of the Dutch renaissance ever paint a mermaid? Although we commonly use the term rubenesque to

Rubens and his wife, Helena Fourment

imply an obese woman, that really wasn't the case. Ruben's women carry a little extra weight, but its not excessive; pleasingly plump might be a fit.  One need to look at the self portrait of Rubens and his wife to see where his tastes lay, as it were. 

    So bemused was I, that I swam progressively into the shallows by the breakwater.  By the time I had exited my reverie, I was in quite a pickle. A very shallow coral carpeted pickle. Luckily, there was little surf and so I crept out of the very shallow coral without injury.  During my escape, I saw a pair of saddleback butterflyfish (which are clearly more common that milletseeds.) 

    As it turns out, Rubens did not paint a mermaid.

   My beloved was awaiting me back in the kiosk,  First she needed to warn me about a young man hanging by the stairs with his pants half off and spouting twisted religious jargon.   Then she introduced me to a pair of toddlers who were dancing to the music provided by a gray haired group of ukulele players.  Matt and Donny looked moonstruck as they attempted a few steps.

   On my way to the changing room I was accosted by the young man in the advanced stage of de-pantsing.  He blew smoke in my face and said, "If Donald Trump was Jesus, would we need a special prosecutor to crucify him?"

    We're all set to go swimming with Reverend Sunny this morning and I believe I will pose that question to her, if only to keep her on her ecclesiastical toes. In the meantime, keep strumming your ukulele and keep your eye out for that Rubenesque mermaid.

jeff