Diving the Kona Coast: Red Reef Lobster

Friday, May 4, 2012

Night Dive 4/20/12

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 24, 2010

Dive Report for Saturday 01/23/10

Today conditions were really nice at Honaunau Bay with flat calm seas and clear weather. When I got there around 7:15 AM, a group of local paddlers said that a couple of whales had been in the bay a little earlier. The sun had not yet crested Mauna Loa but there was sufficient light to see dive without a torch, so I geared up and got into the water.

A Blackside Hawkfish sits on a coral head and waits for a potential meal to swim by. Hawkfish are poor swimmers and are named for their penchant of finding a perch and patiently waiting for prey to come close.

A tiny Whitemouth Moray peers out from a crevice in the coral. A mature specimen can be up to 4 feet long but this youngster is only a few inches in length.

Photo Copy right 2010 by Barry Fackler

Sometimes. diving in the early morning affords you an opportunity to witness seldom seen behaviors. Here, a Cone Shell Hermit Crab considers forsaking its cone shell for a shiny Reticulated Cowrie shell. As hermit crabs grow, they need to find bigger shells. According to literature available to me, this type of hermit crab rarely occupies a shell other than a cone shell.

Conditions were so calm today that I got to spend some time very near to shore in what is often referred to as the surge zone. As the name implies, this is an area where the water is very rough and not really conducive to SCUBA diving. Incredibly, there are fish that prefer this wild environment and are seldom seen away from it. One example is this female Pearl Wrasse shown above. The species gets its name from the female color pattern which is evocative of pearl necklaces.

Early into my second dive of the day, I chanced upon this Sidespot Goatfish. There is nothing particularly fascinating about this fish but it does have a pleasant pinkish tinge to it that you don't see in many reef fish.

I know I've been running a lot of lizardfish photos recently but this pair was such a bright shade of red that they really stood out on the coral. More often they are brown or dull green and blend in more with the surrounding substrate.

Caves provide a good environment to find nocturnal animals during the day. In this photo a Red Reef Lobster peers out from the safety of his own little "cave within a cave". While technically a lobster, it's more like a shrimp on steroids. With a maximum length of 5 inches it would not make a very satisfying meal. It is interesting in having stiff hairs projecting from its claws and body. These hairs give them a heightened sense of touch.

Coming back to the Two Step, these Yellowfin Goatfish can be seen hovering about. They are so often seen by "regulars" like me that they hardly get noticed. They are nice looking fish and deserve a little recognition so here it is!

I had to wait around for an hour before I could go home so I just relaxed on the beach. I can't go straight home after diving at Honaunau because I live at around 1500' altitude and I need to let the nitrogen get out of my system before ascending. Anyway, as I sat on the beach, a Humpback Whale breached 3 times just outside the bay. A couple of minutes later another whale breached twice. It was a nice way to end the morning.