Diving the Kona Coast: Bullethead Parrotfish

Showing posts with label Bullethead Parrotfish. Show all posts

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Sleeping Parrotfish

bullethead parrotfish Chlorurus spilurus

Friday, May 4, 2012

I haven't been on a night dive in several years, mostly because the logistics of donning/doffing gear as well as ingress/egress from the ocean in darkness just seemed like too much of a hassle. But, after a while, one likes to see new things and wonders if the old bones are still up to the challenge. On April 20th, I packed my gear after work and drove to the ol' swimming hole at Honaunau to explore the nocturnal reef.

The first thing one notices upon descent is all the tiny little lights glowing on the coral everywhere you aim your torch. These lights are reflections off the eyes of countless shrimp that come out of the coral at night to feed and do whatever else shrimp do when they're not hiding. The most common shrimp I saw was the Marbled Shrimp (Saron marmoratus) the males of which have absurdly long claw-arms.

While yellow seems to be the predominant reef color of the day, red most definitely rules the night. Many scarlet crustaceans come out as do crimson fish. I found this little red crab perched on a single lobe of coral. I cannot positively identify it as it is probably a juvenile and may have different morphological characteristics than the adult.

This Blackside Hawkfish (Paracirrhites forsteri) is usually brownish with black sides during the day but becomes reddish-pink at night. This one was quite asleep and allowed me to take several close-range photos without flinching. The small, blurry objects are zooplankton attracted by the dive torch.

I mostly stayed in the area of a large sand patch that was simple to navigate as it is easy to lose your bearings in the darkness. While I mostly looked for photo ops in the surrounding coral, I couldn't pass up this bright Red Swimming Crab (Charybdis paucidentata) posing out in the open on the sand.

This Manybar Goatfish (Parupeneus multifasciatus) is another diurnal fish that sleeps soundly under overhanging coral at night. It is a close relative of the Minibar Goatfish that can be frequently found in hotel rooms.

There would not be much of a meal in a Red Reef Lobster (Enoplometopus occidentalis). While being a lovely crustacean, it is about the size of a freshwater crawfish or crawdad with a length of about five inches being the max.

I saw several endemic Hawaiian Whitespotted Tobies (Canthigaster jactador) sleeping in this vertical orientation. This fish does not seem to change color at night.

By the time I happened upon this Lowfin Scorpionfish (Scorpaenodes parvipinnis) the zooplankton was getting thick! This fish is not sleeping as it is nocturnal. I have seen them sleeping in caves during daytime hours.

Even challenging dives are tough to end. You'd like to keep poking around and searching the reef for hours. As I made my way back to shore, I snapped this photo of a Rough-Spined Urchin (Chondrocidaris gigantea). These echinoderms are able to contort their many spines to allow them to wedge into the reef during the day. They come out to roam at night when predators are fewer.

This is the photo I came out to get! This Bullethead Parrotfish (Chlorurus spilurus) is sleeping in a nearly invisible mucus cocoon which prevents predators from catching its scent. During the day they swim swiftly and erratically from one coral head to the other scraping off coral with their "beaks" (actually, fused teeth) to feed on the algae within. Their dramatic colors become even more lurid after dark.

Thank you all for joining me on this little adventure. I did another night dive on April 27th and will be posting on that "relatively soon".

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Post-Tsunami Dive Report for 02/28/10

The sun came up over a calm and sparkling Honaunau Bay this morning and I was there to greet it. Everybody and everything is still intact. The forecasters and government agencies all across the island chain did a great job responding to the tsunami threat. It was hard to believe that Honolulu/Waikiki could be cleared out that effectively!

Here on the Big Island today is just a day like any other day. Diving conditions were excellent although I noticed a couple things that seemed a little unusual. First, there was a lot of cold, fresh water percolating up through the water column. At one point my computer was indicating 73 deg. F. That's a little chilly! Also, I wouldn't exactly call it a current but there was a slight southward pull inside the bay today. Nothing major but perceptible, nevertheless.

I started my first dive as the sun was rising. A lot of fish were just coming out onto the reef after a night's rest. I saw this Day Octopus gliding along the reef top with a large Peacock Grouper escorting it. Like the goatfish in last week's post, the grouper follows the octopus, hoping to gobble up any little creatures the octopus may scare off the reef as it travels. This is the closest I've ever gotten to a grouper exhibiting this behavior. Usually they separate from the octopus until I move on.

Groupers can lunge at their prey very rapidly and engulf it by quickly opening their large mouths, creating a strong suction force. It would seem that the octopus is living dangerously here, however the interaction seems casual and non-threatening.

I got lots of good photos of the octopus as it let me follow it around the reef for some time. I saw two other octos on this dive.

This Green Linckia starfish has had a rough go of it! Two of its five arms are in the process of regenerating after some type of trauma. This is the type of sea star I see most often at Honaunau.

I photographed the Bullethead Parrotfish shown above just after it had finished what appeared to be a confrontation with another fish of the same species. They were aggressively swirling around each other and appeared to be snapping their jaws. Then this one swam in front of me with its fins flared while the other one swam away.

This Crocodile Needlefish is often mistaken for a Barracuda by snorkelers unfamiliar with the local marine life. There are similarities - both are good-sized silvery fish with intimidating teeth. These fish often jump clear of the water in their pursuit of small prey. Incredibly, there are documented cases of fatalities where fishermen were stabbed by the sharp beak of a leaping Needlefish.

As I returned to the Two-Step, I swam over this handsome Green Sea Turtle resting in a cozy sand patch. The shell on this one is almost completely clean. Often they can have a mossy coating of algae.

On my second dive, I headed north and happened upon this large school of Yellowfin Goatfish cascading down the face of the reef.

This Crown-of-Thorns sea star was stretched between the tops of two coral heads like a hammock between two palm trees. It would have been neat to see how this ended but it would have taken too long.

Threadfin Butterflyfish are not only nice-looking fish but they're also fairly curious about divers and, therefore, easy to photograph. As delicate as that dorsal thread appears, I've never seen a Threadfin that was missing it.

This trio of Blue Goatfish was prowling the reef in apparent search of a meal. These are young individuals which will get a bit beefier looking as they mature.

This little guy is an Ambon Toby that I found all tucked up under a ledge. Tobies like this are actually tiny pufferfishes measuring around 5" maximum. They are often seen in pairs but this one appeared to be all alone.

Slate Pencil Sea Urchins can be found on almost all Hawaiian reefs. They are fairly big but, during the daytime, they are quite capable of tucking themselves tightly into nooks and crannies on the reef. At night they come out and wander about the reef.

Thus ended my post-tsunami dive excursion. I don't work for the Chamber of Commerce but I do want people to know that the reefs are in good shape here and the tsunami was of no consequence. If you're planning a trip to Hawai'i, there's no reason to change your mind.

Diving the Kona Coast

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Sleeping Parrotfish

Friday, May 4, 2012

Night Dive 4/20/12

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Post-Tsunami Dive Report for 02/28/10

About Me