CRITTER: Meet kupipi the singing fish
Spring is here and love is all around even for the fish! From birds to geckos, animals often change colors and behaviours this time of year to attract a mate for breeding.
CRITTER: Meet moano the many-bar goat-fish
This foot long goatfish is very common here in Hawaii and you usually see them near the base of rocky outcroppings where they use their two appendages under their chin called barbels, to find food.
CRITTER: Meet the striped mullet, the fish of the chiefs,
There are three types of mullets that are native to Hawaii and ‘ama’ama the striped mullet is the largest species growing to about 25 inches. This silver fish with black edges around its fins lives in shallow water close to shore often in large schools.
CRITTER: Meet the very strange looking harlequin shrimp
Most divers in Hawaii will never see this rare shrimp, but even if they did they more than likely would not know what they are looking at!
CRITTER: Meet pu’u olai the crowned toby
Toby fish are small pufferfish and each species occupies a different habit in the sea.
CRITTER: Meet lauia the Regal Parrotfish
Most parrotfish in Hawaii are called uhu and we have over five known species and maybe even some crosses between species. One reason it is hard to identify parrotfish is because they are all hatched out as females and then some convert into males for breeding purposes.
CRITTER: Meet mano the Galapagos Shark
In 2016 I was scuba diving at Tunnels Reef (Makua) in Kaua‘i doing a coral study and also spearfishing for roi which is an invasive grouper species that is damaging our coral reef ecosystem here in Hawai‘i. I had just speared a large 18 inch roi and was putting it in my fish bag when a huge shark came out of nowhere and ripped the roi right out of my hands!
CRITTER: Meet puhi palahoana the Bearded Cusk Eel
There is a true deep sea monster here in Hawaii that lives in very shallow water but is rarely ever seen! This two foot long eel looks like a cross between a catfish and a moray eel and after 3,000 dives here in Hawaii I have only seen two of these unusual fish until the other night.
CRITTER: Meet Hawaii’s Super Rare Flame Angelfish
At one point in time it was thought that this extremely colorful four inch long angelfish may be extinct here in Hawaii as no one had seen one for years! I have done over 3,000 dives in the Hawaiian Islands and up until last year I had never seen this rare fish here in Hawaii but it is quite common in parts of the Philippines and the South Pacific.
CRITTER: Meet the Hawaiian fish that rides waves
Hawai‘i has a very unique marine ecosystem because of the large waves that break directly onto nearshore reefs. As far as islands go Hawai‘i is a new island chain and on the Big Island new land is added to the sea every few years from the erupting volcanoes.
CRITTER: Papa ‘i ako ‘ako’ a the Rainbow Swimming Crab
Scuba diving in a cave under the reef at 40 feet deep then looking up at the dark ceiling of the cave right into the psychedelic eyes of a 7-inch wide blue and orange crab is quite exciting!
CRITTER: Meet the gold lace nudibranch
This small soft bodied dorid sea slug is only found in the main Hawaiian Islands and was first discovered in 1982.
CRITTER: Meet hinalea the psychedelic wrasse
This small fast moving seven inch long fish only occurs in Hawaii and is rarely seen by divers. The juvenile female is red black and white and is usually seen on shallow reefs in groups of three or four.
CRITTER: Meet the Petroglyph shrimp
This is one Hawaiian reef creature you more than likely will never see but they are extremely common!
CRITTER: Meet the Hawaiian Blue Rice Coral
Most divers will tell you that Hawaiian corals are fairly boring to look at or photograph, but that is just not the case with the fluorescent, blue-rice coral! Early explorers that sailed into Hanalei Bay wrote about how the reef was bright blue and purple under the crystal-clear waters. Kaua‘i had the largest concentration of blue-rice coral I have ever seen in the entire Pacific Ocean until 2014 when most of it died.
CRITTER: Meet the rare Thompson’s Anthias Fish from Ni’ihau
I have been scuba diving all around the world for the last 20 years shooting marine life videos for a school educational program and my goal is to get video of the rarest fish species in the sea and study their behavior. It was really wonderful to find one of these rarely seen creatures right in my own backyard!
CRITTER: Meet kikakapu, the threadfin butterflyfish
Kikakapu, the threadfin butterflyfish, is one of the most common coral reef fish throughout the tropical Pacific, Indonesia, Africa and the Red Sea.
CRITTER: Meet pinao the oriental flying gurnard
This very-strange-looking, 10-inch-long fish does not actually fly above the sea surface like a flying fish, but it flies underwater right above the sandy sea floor! Pinao hates to swim, but it loves to crawl.
Lilley to release new underwater coffee-table book
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CRITTER: Meet kio the Christmastree worm
Do you know that many of our coral reefs here in Hawai‘i are just covered in what looks like tiny two-inch-long Christmas trees that grow on top of the live coral? There are some strange animals that grow in Hawaiian waters and kio is one of them!