We have many species of beautiful butterfly fish here in Kaua‘i, but it is a rare find to see a pair of saddleback butterfly fish.
After doing over 1,000 dives in Kaua‘i, I have only seen this colorful fish five times and they were always a pair. They are thought to be territorial so seeing more than a pair never happens and just sitting underwater at Koloa Landing a few days ago watching a pair of these fish feed was truly spectacular.
My first pair of these fish I ever saw was in Hanauma Bay marine sanctuary on the south side of O‘ahu, and then I saw several pairs while diving in Indonesia, so this is about the most rare species we have. Its Hawaiian name is kikakapu, which means forbidden fish.
The lower jaw of this fish juts forward, which allows it to feed on coral polyps. It only eats the dying or sick polyps, which makes room for new corals to grow.
The Hawaiians understood how important this fish was to the health of a coral reef, so they named it to remind people to not remove them from the reef, as that may cause a collapse of an entire coral reef system.
What is so unique about this species of butterfly fish is their behavior. The pair is usually within 2 feet of each other and they often feed side by side.
They are so connected that if one is scared off by a large predator fish, the other one quickly finds its partner and they are back together again.
These fish just do not like being alone and I am not quite sure what would happen if one got caught or killed, as there are not enough of them on the entire reef system to find another partner.
You can see all of the butterfly fish species that call Koloa Landing home in my documentary about this special dive site in Kaua‘i that is up on my underwater educational website at www.underwater2web.com.
All of my videos are kid friendly and if you subscribe to my YouTube at Underwater2web, you will get a new marine life movie every week to enjoy with the whole family and also share with your local schools.
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Terry Lilley is a marine biologist living in Hanalei Kaua‘i and co-founder of Reef Guardians Hawai‘i, a nonprofit on a mission to provide education and resources to protect the coral reef. To donate to Reef Guardians Hawaii go to www.reefguardianshawaii.org.
