Almost all snorkelers here in Hawai‘i have seen this extremely colorful fish on our shallow-water coral reefs, but few have ever seen one up close because they never stay still. These foot-long fish are just flat-out hyperactive, and they zoom all around the reef, changing directions every second or two, which makes them a blur of colors to most divers who see them. It is the hardest fish to get a good picture of, and I have over 100,000 fish pictures.
Almost all snorkelers here in Hawai‘i have seen this extremely colorful fish on our shallow-water coral reefs, but few have ever seen one up close because they never stay still. These foot-long fish are just flat-out hyperactive, and they zoom all around the reef, changing directions every second or two, which makes them a blur of colors to most divers who see them. It is the hardest fish to get a good picture of, and I have over 100,000 fish pictures.
“‘Awela” means “heated” or “hot” because this fish looks like it is on fire as it darts around the reef, especially when they are breeding. The young Christmas wrasse and females are a drab green and pink, and often hang out in schools on top of the reef. During our summer high tides the females congregate above the high spots in the reef and the males zoom between the schools of smaller females, showing off their bright colors like a male peacock on fire. When a certain female is selected to breed with, the male will slow down enough to actually get a picture or video of one. I have spent dozens of hours out on the reef shooting video of these fish to finally get one good video clip while they were breeding.
Like most wrasse species, ‘awela are all hatched out as females, and then when they mature a few of the females change into males and develop their amazing colors.
When people are spearfishing or pole fishing, it is important to not remove these colorful adult male wrasse like the parrotfish (uhu) or male Christmas wrasse because it takes many months for a female to convert into a male. If the large, colorful males are removed off the reef during breeding it can affect the entire wrasse population for that year’s breeding season, as one male will spawn with many different females, of which will produce millions of fertilized eggs.
‘Awela like to eat small creatures on the reef like crabs and shrimp. I am not sure how they can even see their prey, as they are moving so quickly they usually zoom right over their food, then in a split second due a u-turn and grab it.
After snatching their prey they eat on the run so no other fish can steal their meal.
These fish are just so fun and magical to watch, as it is like watching a fast-moving underwater firestorm.
You can see ‘awela in action in “The World’s Guide To Hawaiian Reef Fish” at underwater2web.com and also see my marine-life daily post on Facebook and Instagram under my name.
Aloha from under the surf.
•••
Terry Lilley, a marine biologist, lives in Hanalei. His websites include underwater-2web.com and www.gofundme.com/5urrm4zw.
