Diving the Kona Coast: Yellowfin Goatfish

Showing posts with label Yellowfin Goatfish. Show all posts

Friday, May 17, 2013

Flocking Goats

On the North side of Honaunau Bay is a school of yellowfin goatfish (Mulloidichthys varicolensis) that is there every time I pass by. All day long, season after season this school hovers motionless almost in the same spot. As a result, I tend not to pay it much notice.

However, I noticed recently how pretty this group of fish appears, especially in the early morning as the sunlight filters through the water. Usually, there are one or two other fish mixed in the school. Goatfish are so named for the two sensory barbels on their chins that distantly resemble a goat's beard. At night, the school disperses and each individual probes the sand with its barbels in search of invertebrates to eat. Come sunrise, they have all regrouped at the customary spot.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Randomness

Aloha All,

Not much on my mind today so I thought I'd share some random photos that didn't require a lot of commentary or a separate post. Hope you like them!

Monday, May 24, 2010

Dive Report for Saturday 05/22/10

A mild swell and gloomy skies greeted divers at Honaunau this past Saturday. For my first dive, I descended right off the "ALOHA" to visit the Longfin Anthias on their little coral head. I like to shoot photos of them every now and then trying out different approaches and angles.

The male remains as bold as ever and the females are getting less shy as well.

This female was feeding on some organic matter in the water column. It's not the greatest photo, but I like that it shows the fish with its mouth open ready to eat.

I caught this group of Yellowfin Goatfish being groomed by a Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse.

I rarely can get a photo of a Yellowtail Coris as they move so swiftly and erratically. This time I was fast enough.

When I get a little frustrated trying to photograph fast-moving fish, I take a break and shoot something that moves really slowly, like this Needle-Spined Sea Urchin.

On the second dive I came across this Juvenile Commerson's Frogfish. This is the second one I've seen this month. Maybe there's a population boom going on. This one was sitting right out in the open in a field of rocks.

My report ends with this head-on shoy of a small Whitemouth Moray nestled in the coral. Have a nice week!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Dive Report for Saturday 04/17/10

Aloha, everyone! I,ve been sidelined by a sinus infection for the past two weekends so I haven't had any dives to blog about. But, I'm all better now and had a wonderful pair of dives today at Honaunau.

For my first dive I surface swam to the south end of the cove and descended among the large stone formations there. One of the first sights I saw was this six-rayed Green Linckia sea star. While not common, sea stars with extra rays are not rare either.

Just a photo of a common Yellow Tang, but I'm happy with this because at least the bright yellow didn't reflect my flash so much as to wipe out the details on the fish.

I found this little Spotted Boxfish male out in the open but when I approached to take his photo he retreated back into the coral for safety. This is the only half-decent photo I got of him.

This pair of Raccoon Butterflyfish followed me for awhile as I made my way around the rock formations.

I haven't seen one of these Lantern Tobies in quite awhile. Some species seem to disappear for a time, only to come back in numbers later on. I used to see these in pairs but this one was solo.

This is the first Shortnose Wrasse that I've seen in some time. This one can be identified as a male by the bright red area on the front of the dorsal fin. Like all wrasse, it swims about in a rapid and somewhat erratic manner making it difficult (for me) to photograph.

This is Wire Coral (sometimes called Whip Coral) that can be found all over the south end of the cove. It grows out of the sides of the rock formations, usually where it is shaded by an overhang. There are certain shrimp and gobies that are specially adapted to live on this unusual coral.

The vermillion color of this Arc-Eye Hawkfish contrasted nicely with the pale green coral he was resting on.He certainly wasn't hiding!

I got one chance to snap this photo of a Potter's Angelfish before it disappeared into the coral.

I love the photo opportunities afforded by the cleaning stations. Here a Goldring Surgeonfish unfurls its fins for a thorough going-over by a Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse.

This Whitemouth Moray made a willing photo subject towards the end of my dive.

Diving conditions were kind of a mixed bag today. There was a bit of surge in the early morning but visibility was better than it had been for months. The temp remained a chilly 74 degrees. On my surface interval, the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up to at least 12 knots as whitecaps were forming on the open water outside the cove.

On my second dive I decided to check in on some old friends. This male Longfin Anthias is still doing well, as is his little harem.

Likewise, the small school of Pyramid Butterflyfish has managed just fine in my absence.

It's always cool to see a Pacific Trumpetfish hanging vertically like this in the water column. They float like this waiting for a little fish to swim out of the coral and then the trumpetfish sucks it in!

To finish off this post, here's a photo of Yellowfin Goatfish who will probably gather in this cove forever. They are a constant presence around the ALOHA sandpatch every single day and are reliable enough to use as a navigational aid.

Although there were no spectacular sightings, these were two very pretty dives and I was very grateful to be back in the water again!

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.

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.