Some More Fun Fish Facts Pt. 2!!!

The DEVIL SCORPIONFISH (called nohu ‘omakaha) is so well camouflaged, it usually is found out in the open, blending in with coral rubble or smooth rounded stones.  It rarely is seen on living coral.  Its hidden colors are bright yellow and orange bands on undersides of its pectoral fins.  The only other color is orange around the mouth, only visible when it makes aggressive displays toward a rival.  Let’s see how good you are at spotting one of these guys with Honu Hawaiian Diving!

The BLACKTIP REEF SHARK (called mano pa’ele) has a distinct black tip on all its fins, with the dorsal fin the most noticeable.  Juveniles will cruise the shallow waters looking for food, whereas adult blacktips frequent flat reefs, but like to stay hidden and sleep in sheltered bays, caverns and overhangs.  These are not considered dangerous sharks, and are often very skittish of humans and when they realize your size, they will swim away.  Sadly these sharks are becoming scarce, but we know some places they like to hide!  Come on a dive with Honu Hawaiian Diving and see one of these gorgeous sharks taking a nap or cruising around the reef! 

The SURGE WRASSE (called hou) is a large, swift wrasse found primarily in shallower waters with strong waves and currents, but can be found as deep as 90 feet.  Adult males are green with broad pink marks on the head and ladder-like pink marks on their sides.  Both sexes initially look the same, with darker colors and a distinctive “Y” or “V” mark between their eyes and mouth.  They typically eat sea urchins and crabs.  Hawaiian legend says that these fish tend to sleep in tide pools at night and can be heard snoring, so they were easy targets for fishers with torches and spears.  These fish are hard to find in Hawaii because they readily take a bait hook, and are considered one of the more difficult fish to photograph.  Do you have what it takes to photograph them??  Try it out withHonu Hawaiian Diving! 

The PACIFIC TRUMPETFISH (called nunu) are inflexible and sticklike, and are most commonly grey or brown, but can also be seen as a vibrant yellow or black.  When attempting to stalk prey or blend with their environment, the grey or brown trumpets are able to rapidly assume pale horizontal and/or vertical stripes.  Their diet primarily consists of other fish and crustaceans, and they tend to hunt vertically to ambush their pray, or head on because they’re virtually undetectable to their prey due to their narrow width.  Their mouth can expand to engulf fish the size of the trumpetfish itself, much like a snake.  These fish can grow larger than 2 feet in length, and like to hang out near the wrecks, and around the reefs.  Schedule a dive with Honu Hawaiian Diving and see if you can find one stalking its prey! 

The SPOTTED CORAL BLENNY (called pao’o ‘o kauila) is a large, relatively colorful blenny that sits motionless on or near living coral, densely covered in hexagonal spots.  They raise their large sail-like dorsal fin when agitated or alarmed.  They only feed on living coral and leave “blenny kisses” (small mouth marks) all over the reef, although catching a blenny eating is rare as they spend 90% of their day sitting in the open motionless.  It’s very rare, outside of the Hawaiian Islands, to see a blenny sitting out in the open like the spotted coral blenny; typically they hide sheltered within coral.  In Hawaii, usually only juveniles stay within the coral fingers.  Book a dive with Honu Hawaiian Diving to look for blenny kisses! 

The BARRED FILEFISH (called o’ili) is a large brownish-grey fish with faint vertical bars along its sides.  They feed on living coral, and have strong mouths and teeth to do so.  They typically travel in pairs, and can change to a yellow tint when mating.  The juveniles are brown with white spots but are almost never seen.  Night divers have reported that these fish sometimes sleep in close proximity to one another in Antler Coral and use their teeth to grasp onto it to keep from drifting apart.  Come look for this fish with its easily distinguishable mouth with Honu Hawaiian Diving!

The LEAF SCORPIONFISH is a tiny flat fish (growing no more than 4”) with a permanently extended sail-like dorsal fin, and can be white, pink, yellow, red, brown, black, green, or mottled in color.  They’re normally found during the day in crevices of rocks, or hidden within coral, typically head inward.  At night, they’re in more exposed position.  They tend to sway back and forth like seaweed, even with no current present.  When these fish get too “fuzzy” from algae growth on their skin, they molt starting at the head, and this process can take less than a minute.  See if you can find one with Honu Hawaiian Diving!

The SPOTTED EAGLE RAYS (called hailepo; hihimanu) are rays with pointed triangular wings that can reach 10 feet from tip to tip.  Their undersides are white, while their backs are light brown, gray or black with white spots.  If their tail isn’t broken or bitten off, it can reach lengths 3 times the width of their body, and has anywhere between 1-5 venomous spines at the base.  Unlike other rays, their gill slits and eyes are on the sides of their heads, and they have a “duck bill” looking mouth used to dig for mollusks and other organisms.  When in groups, as big as up to 50 members, they swim in a synchronized fashion, and occasionally jump out of the water like dolphins.  They’re noted to have one of the largest brain to body weight ratios of any fish.  Come dive with Honu Hawaiian Diving to see these majestic beauties cruising around a wreck on near the reefs! 

The GREAT BARRACUDA (called kaku) is the largest of the barracudas and is silver with small black blotches irregularly spaced on lower side.  Smaller specimens can have up to 20 indistinct bars along side of the body.  They’re found alone or in very small groups, typically in shallow water near shore, mostly in the early morning or late afternoon.  They typically stay motionless near surface, waiting to attack prey.  They’re commonly seen off the west side of the island, and can grow to be 5.5 feet in length, although usually smaller in the Hawaiian Islands.  These barracudas are ciguatoxic and it is risky and dangerous to eat them, making them a top predator.  Book a dive with Honu Hawaiian Diving to look for these predators! 

The HAWAIIAN GARDEN EELS can live by the thousands along sandy bottoms around the Hawaiian Islands, commonly seen off the Kona Coast of the Big Island, and around the Corsair wreck off Oahu, typically at depths of 60 feet or more.  They stretch out of their holes facing into the current to feed on drifting plankton.  When approached, they withdraw gradually into the sand.  A colony of these eels were studied at 130 feet, and they were found to cover 13,000 square meters and averaged 2.3 eels per square meter – totaling approximately 29,900 eels.  To study these eels, a fishing line had to be lured directly over a burrow with a noose around it, and when eel emerged, the noose had to be tightened quickly and the eel pulled completely out of the hole (unharmed!) because if their tails at touching the sand at all, they are able to quickly wiggle themselves out of the noose.  There is not much known about their socialization, but researchers found that many holes appeared to be specifically paired up 6” apart, and those paired holes were found to have a male/female couple.  Come find these fascinating creatures on a wreck dive with Honu Hawaiian Diving!