Diving the Kona Coast: Manybar Goatfish

Showing posts with label Manybar Goatfish. Show all posts

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Sleepy Goatfish

manybar goatfish Parapeneus multifasciatus

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

The Octopus Companion

manybar goatfish Parupeneus multifasciatus

Sometimes a manybar will follow an octopus around, hoping to catch any small creatures the octopus may alarm as it slides through the coral.

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, January 31, 2010

The Lonely Dolphin-Dive Report for Saturday 01/30/10

Even before I got to the bay this morning I could see the Humpback Whales spouting from my Jeep as I drove down Hale O Keawe Road. Conditions were good with clear skies and low surf. When I entered the water, I could see that even though visibility was fair, there was a lot of floating particulate matter in the water.

Often, I end my posts with a sunset shot. For a change of pace, I'm starting today's post with a photo of the sun rising over Mauna Loa. I took this from the water's surface just before I started my first dive. Mauna Loa is a massive mountain but it has such a gradual slope to it that it's hard to tell it's a mountain. The name Mauna Loa literally means "long mountain".

I dropped down deep to start the dive and checked in on the little colony of Longfin Anthias. All seemed well with them and the male was standing guard over his coral head as usual.

Coming up the drop-off, this Eyestripe Surgeonfish passed right in front of me. It's a really attractive fish with beautiful colors and an ornately patterned tail fin.

This Potter's Angelfish is a common reef resident, but one that is very difficult for me to photograph. As soon as I point the camera towards one, it dives into the coral and stays there. I got a little lucky with this one.

Cleaning stations were really busy this morning. Here, a Manybar Goatfish gets worked over by a Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse.

Coming back toward the Two-Step, I saw 3 or 4 Honu getting cleaned or swimming up to the surface for a breath of air.

As I was busying myself photographing the turtles, I sensed a presence above me. I looked up to see this Bottlenose Dolphin swimming overhead. I was amazed as I was in only 11 feet of water. This is a big dolphin, reaching about 10 to 12 feet long. Several years ago I had swum with a pair of Bottlenoses here in Honaunau Bay but they stayed in the deeper water beyond the drop-off.
Bottlenose Dolphins have a uniform gray color to their backs and flanks as opposed to the three-tone color scheme of Spinner Dolphins. They also have stubby noses compared to the long, narrow snouts of Spinners. Bottlenose Dolphins also have a strongly backswept dorsal fin as opposed to the more vertical dorsal fin of the Spinner.

Unfortunately, I was low on air when the lone dolphin made its appearance. I followed it for a while, watching it turn over rocks and coral rubble with its snout. Every once in a while it would rub its sides in the sand. These are all behaviors not often seen with Spinner Dolphins.
Bottlenoses are usually social creatures traveling in small groups called pods. When one is found alone it is often because it is unhealthy or disoriented. This individual seemed quite healthy in appearance. I wondered if it was actually as lonely as it seemed. As I was low on air, I surfaced, but I hung out over the dolphin which was now in deeper water. I watched it as it casually browsed around the ocean floor, literally poking its nose in the nooks and crannies of the reef.

During my surface interval, I watched the dolphin surface and spout as it cruised around just off the reef. When I began my second dive, I looked around for the dolphin but it seemed to have disappeared. I turned my attention back to the reef where I made a couple more interesting discoveries.

Crawling blindly on a large rock, this sea cucumber looked somewhat hideous as it swept its oral tentacles about in search of organic detritus to consume. Most sea cucumbers move so slowly they appear inanimate, but this one was quite lively.

Tucked face down into the coral, this juvenile Commerson's Frogfish does it's best to be inconspicuous. As it matures it will lose its bright yellow coloration and will blend into the reef so well as to be almost invisible.

The high point of my second dive was finding this huge Partridge Tun. I had only seen one of these snails before, years ago when a dive guide found one. Betty and I often find fragments of the shells which are as thin as potato chips and easily allow light to pass through them. It is very uncommon for us to find an empty shell intact. Even this living example had some damage to the shell around the aperature. The foot of the animal appears far too large to retract into the shell. These snails are usually nocturnal, so to find one in the daytime was really great.

Low on air and coming back to the Two-Step, the ocean had one more treat for me. Around 50 Spinner Dolphins cruised by just beyond the drop-off. I had enough time to snap a couple pictures before surfacing.

As I was off-gassing before heading uphill, I watched the whales surface and spout offshore. No breaches today. I've formed this theory that it's a group of 2 or 3 females hanging out there and one of them is getting ready to give birth. I think they're females because I don't hear singing when I'm underwater. Males sing to attract mates, females don't. For three weeks now they've been staying off the south point of the bay as if waiting for something to happen. I'll wait and see what develops.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Dive Report for Sunday 12/20/2009

By no means was this a "Chamber of Commerce" type of day in Kona. When I got up there was a little bit of sun and blue sky over the mountains but very gray and cloudy over the ocean. During the first dive I had a little sunlight but it got progressively darker as time went by. The scene above was taken between dives. As I geared up for my second dive it began to drizzle very lightly. But I was already wet and planning on getting wetter so I went ahead. The second dive was good, but topside it was raining buckets. To the south there was thunder and lightning and north in Kailua-Kona funnel clouds were spotted over the ocean. Pretty wild!

The weather made underwater visibility a bit like night diving. I saw this juvenile Blackside Hawkfish early in the dive. These fish undergo a dramatic change in coloration as they mature. Later in the dive I found an adult specimen. You can see from the photo below how this fish changes as it grows.

A variety of Wrasses were on the reef on the first dive. The beautifully colored fish above is a Yellowtail Coris. All wrasses swim by beating their pectoral fins, holding the tail stiff and using it only for steering. They flit around somewhat erratically and are difficult to photograph.

Above are three female Bird Wrasse darting about the reef. They have a characteristic curved beak that resembles the beak of a Hawaiian bird called a Honeycreeper. The males are similarly shaped but are bigger and colored dark green and blue.

The Saddle Wrasse is one of the more common fish on Hawaiian reefs and is easily identified by its orange "saddle" just behind the head. It has beautiful magenta markings at the base of the anal, dorsal and caudal fins.

Near the end of the first dive I came upon a cloud of stirred up sand. At first I thought it might have been the result of a couple of Square Spot Goatfish feeding in the area. But then I saw a Spotted Eagle Ray glide through the area. These graceful swimmers are becoming more commonly seen around Honaunau.

After an hour's surface interval, I returned for a second dive. This Manybar Goatfish is displaying the chin barbels that give it the family name as they somewhat resemble a goat's beard. This individual tipped me off to the presence of a Day Octopus as the two creatures sometimes hunt cooperatively.

Here are the two hunting partners together.

This particular octopus was a little shy so I only took a couple photos of it, then moved on.

Death is an integral part of nature's plan on the reef as elsewhere. This Pelagic Jellyfish has drifted to its demise in the bay. It's once flowing tentacles have been eaten down to nubs and a big gash runs across it's bell. It was being nibbled on by a Ringtail Wrasse, which fled as I approached. It's bell pulsated weakly and ineffectively, unable to lift it off the sea floor.

My diving day ended with an uncommon sight. A medium-sized Great Barracuda hovered near the surface in shallow water. When we lived in the Florida Keys we saw 'cudas all the time and they were quite bold. Often they would follow you for most of the dive. Here in Hawai'i you don't see them very often and they tend to be shy around divers. The ones I see here are generally a lot smaller than their Western Atlantic and Carribean kin.

No more dives are planned until after Christmas but hopefully I'll get one more day of diving in before the end of the year.

Diving the Kona Coast