Diving the Kona Coast: lobster

Aloha, everybody! As you can see, I am woefully behind on posts and am probably too busy with my family, gardening, job and diving to be anything resembling a competent and dedicated blogger. My apologies.

Anyway, I wanted to share with you some sights from a (not so) recent night dive I took down in Honaunau Bay. Lots of neat stuff comes out at night that daytime snorkelers and divers seldom get to see!

We'll start out with crustaceans, specifically lobsters. Above is a robust example of a tufted spiny lobster (Panulirus peniciliatus). I occasionally see these crammed way back in lava tubes during the day, but at night they come out to wander the reef. As soon as light hits them they retreat back into the reef. They are big and, like their Maine brethren, quite edible. As you can see they lack large claws and rely on their spiny carapaces for defense.

The strange looking creature above is a sculptured slipper lobster (Parribacus antarcticus). Slipper lobsters have antennae that are reduced to thin plates, giving them the additional moniker of shovel-nosed lobsters. Sculptured slipper lobsters are flat and wide. When stationary, their legs are covered by the carapace and the creature blends into the reef quite well. There is something about them that puts me in mind of a military tank.

Vibrant by comparison, the regal slipper lobster (Arctides regalis) is hard to overlook. Its blue-grey base color is contrasted by generous amounts of bright red and orange. This photo was recently published on the "Island Life" page of our local newspaper West Hawai'i Today".

Tucked securely in it's nook, this convex crab (Carpilius convexus) appears to be weighing it's options before heading out onto the reef. It's caution is justified as, even in the darkness, highly effective hunters are lurking like the undulated moray eel (Gymnothorax undulatus) pictured below.

The two photos directly above are of different types of small scorpionfish that come out at night to feed. Diurnal scorpionfish are medium-sized and extravagantly camouflaged to blend with their surrounding. By comparison, their nocturnal cousins are small and brightly decorated. Uppermost photo is a dwarf scorpionfish (Scorpaenopsis fowleri) and the bottom one is a lowfin scorpionfish (Scorpaenodes parvipinnis).

We end this post as it began, with a crustacean. This Hiatt's hinge-beak shrimp (Cinetorhynchus hiatti) emerges at night with legions of its species to forage the reef. It has kinda crazy-looking eyes!

Well, that's it for this time! Hope to post again soon!

Diving the Kona Coast

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

ula-papapa

Friday, June 1, 2012

Night Dive 4/27/12

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