CRITTER: Hawaiian corals are nature’s sea wall
Have you noticed lately that there are a lot of beach erosion articles in the newspapers here in Hawai‘i? Almost everyday the news covers a story about a house or road falling into the sea or onto the beach. These articles usually talk about “climate change” and rising sea levels as the causes for massive coastal erosion but most of the time the articles miss one of the main causes of our beach erosion problems!
CRITTER: Hawai‘i the land of puhi — the moray eel
While scuba diving in Palau we came upon a three foot long speckled moray eel and the divers with cameras lined up underwater to get a picture of it while I just ignored the eel and kelp diving with the hopes of finding a giant humphead wrasse!
CRITTER: Why do our humpback whales breach?
Humpback whales migrate to Hawai‘i from Alaska in the fall and stay in the warm waters of Hawai‘i for several months until spring to give birth and mate. Whale watching tours are extremely popular especially in January, February and March when the whales do a lot of breaching. It is exciting to see these giant creatures launch completely out of the water and come crashing down with a big splash!
CRITTER: Meet the gregory fish, the undersea farmer
This three inch long grey colored damselfish with yellow eyes is the most aggressive fish on the Hawaiian coral reef! The gregory are highly territorial and they keep all other fish away from their home by attacking bigger fish including scuba divers. These small fish dictate where on the reef larger fish can feed and they have little fear of larger fish that could easily eat them.
CRITTER: Meet the male parrotfish that used to be a female
Almost all divers will tell you that the large colorful male parrotfish are the most beautiful fish in Hawaiian waters but the female parrotfish are quite drab looking and not very colorful. Most people don’t know that the large colorful male parrotfish started out its life as a female. Many fish species are all hatched as females and then for the purpose of reproduction one of the largest females will convert into a male!
CRITTER: Meet the coral that looks like snow
Scuba diving one day years ago on the outer reefs at Sharks Cove on Oahu North Shore I found an overhang where the big winter surf had carved out a large finger of lava from a cliff that sticks out about 30 feet.
CRITTER: Meet ulua kihikihi, the threadfin jack
Many of our Hawaiian salt water fish look very different when they are babies vs when they are adults. The threadfin jack is so unusual looking as a baby that when divers see one they usually have no idea what they are looking at!
CRITTER: Meet ‘ako‘ako‘a kohe — the mushroom coral
The mushroom coral is the most unusual coral species here in Hawai‘i. Its Hawaiian name is ‘ako‘ako‘a kohe which means “vagina coral” and in old Hawai‘i they were also called razor corals due to their hard sharp ridges.
CRITTER: Meet pupu‘ala the puka shell
Puka shell necklaces are super famous and they sell in most of the jewelry shops here in Hawai‘i but most people do not know what a puka shell is. You can walk on the beaches here in Hawai‘i and pick up these small round white shells which are quite common especially after large surf and when I scuba dive I often find cracks in the lava reef just packed full of puka shells. Not all puka shells are the same shell.
CRITTER: Meet ‘ulae the orangemouth lizard fish
Out on the coral reef fish have to look big and tough so they don’t get eaten by larger predator fish. A small fish can have large sharp teeth to protect itself but those teeth may or may not help them in finding food. There has to be a balance between feeding and protection and ‘ulae the lizard fish has developed a way to have both by developing false teeth.
CRITTER: Meet ‘ako‘ako‘a the Hawaiian Super Coral
In 2012 I shot 100 hours of video of the brown rice corals along the entire Kaua‘i North Shore and was just stunned at the beauty and diversity of this amazing coral species.
CRITTER: Meet puhi lau milo the undulated moray eel
Puhi lau milo is a 4-foot-long, beautiful moray eel that hides in the reef during the day and comes out to feed at night. If you have done a snorkel in Hawai‘i over a shallow lava and coral reef you probably have gone right over one of these morays, as they are quite common but rarely ever seen during the day.
CRITTER: Puhi uha the conger eel hunts with the manta ray
In our ocean it is common for one fish species to hunt with a different species if the outcome is food for the both of them. Roi often hunts with moray eels and papio often hunts with weke, the goatfish. Even large sharks hunt with large barracuda from time to time.
CRITTER: Meet the dangerous Ewa fang blenny
This four inch long skinny fish has a huge smile on its face and looks totally harmless. It swims in open water above the reef and wiggles back and forth like an earthworm crawls and it is one of the most dangerous little fish in Hawaii. The way it feeds is truly amazing and it is rarely ever eaten by larger fish!
CRITTER: Meet the giant broad stingray that killed Steve Irwin
The broad stingray is fairly common in Hawaii but rarely seen by divers and snorkelers because it likes to feed in calm bays where the visibility is not very good.
CRITTER: Meet ulua la‘uli the black jack
Here in the main Hawaiian Islands we often see ‘omilu the bluefin trevally and ulua aukea the giant trevally.
CRITTER: Pohaku puna the mound coral that protects against hurricanes
Pohaku puna is our natural seawall here in Hawai‘i that helps protect our coastline from hurricane damage.
CRITTER: Meet kio the Christmastree worm
Can a worm help save a coral reef? Yes and that is exactly what kio the Christmastree worm does.
CRITTER: Meet pupu leholeho‘oni‘oni‘o, the swollen bubble shell
This beautiful one inch long pink and white marine snail is one of the hardest to find Hawaiian shells.
CRITTER: Meet the upside-down jellyfish
All of us here in Hawaii that like to surf, swim or snorkel will eventually run into a jellyfish and get stung.