Diving the Kona Coast: moorish idol

Showing posts with label moorish idol. Show all posts

Friday, June 14, 2013

Happy Couple

Haven't been seeing a lot of really interesting stuff recently. but I did get this shot of a pair of moorish idols (Zanclus cornutus) gliding serenely along a wall at Honaunau. I thought they made a nice couple. Have a nice weekend!

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

A Couple of Photos I Really Like

Obviously, I take a lot of photos and I'm pleased enough with many of them to share them on the internet with you. While they may be technically "good" usually they're not anything particularly special to me. This past weekend, however, I got a couple captures I really like...

For over a month I've been regularly visiting a group of six juvenile moorish idols that remain in the same general spot on the reef. Like many fish, they get skittish when approached and scatter and disappear within the coral. Over several dives, I've taken hundreds of photos of this group with only a few decent results. But on Saturday, I got this image of three of the idols in good position over the coral with gentle early morning sunlight filtering into the frame from directly behind. Maybe it's not high art, but it's a pleasant enough image.

Near the end of that same dive, I happened upon a green sea turtle swimming along near my exit point. I followed and caught this image at the moment she surfaced for air. Although I have several photos of turtles taking a breath, most of them are from almost directly below. Here, I was swimming alongside and only slightly below allowing for a nice reflection of the turtle on the surface and nicer blues and greens. Also, the strobes didn't fire as I had taken a shot only seconds earlier. This was good as there was plenty of ambient light and flash would have just caused a lot of backscatter.

Anyway, hope you like the photos. Barry

Friday, February 10, 2012

Fun With Photoshop

Aloha Everyone,

Between the winter surf and various minor ailments, I haven't gotten too many dives in recently. To amuse myself, I've been doing a bit of experimenting with my images on Photoshop. Here are a few of them for you to check out.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Dive Report for Sunday 03/21/10

The surf was really up this morning! I took this photo with my cell phone and it shows big waves slapping the lava flow that extends seaward from the national park at the southern end of the cove. There was big surf to the north as well, but inside the cove conditions were manageable and visibility was OK. Water temp is still hovering at ~74 degrees.

Early in the first dive I found this Bullethead Parrotfish scraping algae from the coral. You can clearly hear the beak scraping the rock-hard surface. The fish ingests the calcium carbonate "skeleton" of the coral and (very) shortly thereafter poops it out as beach sand.

This little male Spotted Boxfish kept me entertained for awhile. It's body is covered with hexagonal plates and is fairly rigid. Nevertheless it is quite nimble and surprisingly fast for a creature that is as streamlined as a box!

I resisted the temptation to photograph another octopus that I found today. After all, how many octo photos does one blog need? I have a much harder time ignoring honus. This one was extremely mellow, swimming right along with me for a few minutes before rising to the surface for air.

I caught this Hawaiian Dascyllus being given the once over by a Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse. In this photo the wrasse is oriented so his "back" (dorsal surface) is facing the camera.

On the second dive, I saw this Moorish Idol. This one is a small adult. It used to have a partner with it but now seems to be going solo.

This funny little fish used to be called a Leopard Blenny. Later, the common name was changed to Shortbodied Blenny. This year it's called a Spotted Coral Blenny. Some species of fish are doomed to have an identity crisis created by fickle fish fanciers! They usually sit out in the open but seem to freak out the nano-second you make eye contact with them. They frantically dive down into the coral and erratically and quickly do a series of quick peeks at you before disappearing for good. This one was an exception, allowing me to take several photos which I am very happy to share.

Another little treat was this Jeweled Anemone Crab. Like all hermit crabs it inhabits a snail shell for protection. But this kind goes a step further by attaching anemones to its shell. When disturbed, the anemones eject bright pink stinging filaments called acontia. This gives the crab an additional line of defense. Nature is awesome.

My last photo for this post is the lowly and under-appreciated Hawaiian Sergeant. Plain and common it doesn't get much attention. I've been giving the species a little more attention as thy are cooperative photo subjects.

That's all for now, folks. See you next time!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Happy New Year! Dive Report for Friday, 01/01/10

Happy New Year to you all! Let's all hope for a better year and a happier world in 2010.

I had hoped to get another diving day in before the year ended but a combination of poor surf conditions and holiday festivities kept me on dry land.

This morning, I watched the blue moon set behind a bank of ominous clouds that hung over the Pacific. To the east, the sun had not quite cleared the summit of Mauna Loa. The tide was high and the lava rock beach was partly awash. The shoreline was deserted and I realized that I was making the first dive of the new decade from the Two-Step. I thought about all the thousands of divers and countless adventures that would start from this spot over the next ten years.

There was considerable surge today and visibility was pretty lackluster with a lot of planktonic detritus hanging in the water column. The vis wasn't much improved down at 82 feet where I bottomed out for this dive. I initially headed south but encountered surge when I came up to around 35 feet. Figuring that things weren't likely to improve, I swung around and headed north.

I found my little school of Pyramid Butterflyfish in good shape today. They seem to be growing and thriving. The area of coral rubble they inhabit seems like an underwater nursery with juvenile tropicals all about.

I spied this pair of tiny Moorish Idols peeking from the coral. They were very shy and wouldn't let me get a photo without one of them hidden by the coral. I don't see Idols this small usually.

This large pair of Reef Lizardfish was being groomed by a Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse. This is a little unusual to me as I usually see swimming fish hovering at cleaning stations for servicing. It's not often that the wrasse ventures away to clean a bottom-dwelling fish.

This photo gives a little insight into the occupational hazard of being a cleaner wrasse. The Reef Lizardfish has a mouth bristling with fine, sharp teeth. It is capable of snatching and devouring whole a fish 3 or 4 times larger than the wrasse.

When I surfaced, I found the beach crowded with at least a hundred people. A good-sized pod of Spinner Dolphins was in the deep waters of the northern side of the bay. This is certain to draw a crowd in this age of cell-phones. After a surface interval, I geared up and swam out to see if they would approach me.

The Nai'a were very sociable this day and approached closely on multiple occasions. Even when not visible to the eye, they made their presence know with their squeals, clicks and whistles.

A really outstanding time with the dolphins today. The photos show how close they chose to approach. When my air supply was about half gone, I headed back to the reef to finish my dive in shallower water.

I saw a pair of female Whitley's Boxfish flitting along the reef. Despite their awkward shape, they are quite agile and surprisingly fast. The males are bigger and have beautiful dark blue markings. Males are seldom seen and, personally, I haven't seen one in a couple of years.

Sometimes Cornetfish, like this one, will follow a diver for a little while. Betty and I once saw one swimming along above a Green Sea Turtle with it's body arched to match the contour of the turtle's shell.

SCUBA diving provides little miracles every now and then. As I was finishing up my dive in just 17 feet of water, I looked to my right to see around 20 more dolphins swimming right past me. They pulled ahead, and then turned around and spiraled all about me. A really magical moment.

Many of you have probably already surmised that the dolphins swimming upside down are engaging in sexual intercourse with the ones immediately above them. Dolphins have no need for prudishness and this behavior is seen every time dolphins are observed underwater.

I left the water today feeling tired but exhilarated by the wonders I had seen. While sitting on the beach, I saw Humpback Whales spouting and surfacing near the entrance of the bay. It was quite a scene with the dolphins still frolicking in the foreground and the beach crowd was very appreciative. After an hour of sunning, I gathered my wetsuit and folded my beach chair and started for my Jeep. Then I heard someone say "There they are again". I turned to see a puff of vapor and the black, shiny back of a whale sliding beneath the surface. I paused to see if it would re-surface. To the astonishment of all, the mighty form of a Humpback Whale shot skyward. It spun in a three-quarter turn to it's right, hung in the air for a second and then crashed back into the sea in an explosive cloud of foam. It was close enough that the grooves on it's ventral side could be plainly seen. What a fantastic sight!

It was a great day at the beach and I believe that all these wonderful occurences on New Years Day bode well for 2010!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Weekend Dive Report for 10/17/09

The day didn't start out looking too promising at Honaunau Bay as there were biggish swells hitting the north and south points of the bay. Upon entering the water I saw the visibility to be poor to fair with a lot of stirred-up particulate matter in the water column. This is always bad news for photographers as the suspended particles reflect our strobes back to the camera lens causing an effect that appears on the photo as bright "snow". As I surface swam out to the drop-off, a nice honu glided gracefully under me around 20 feet below. Underwater, I visited with the Longfin Anthias "harem" for awhile and then I saw my first treasure of the day. A tiny "baby" Moorish Idol (pictured above) was swimming around at about 70' staying close to the reef. I had never seen one so small before. It's dorsal fin was so long as to look slightly comical and its mouth was very short and pinched appearing compared to an adult specimen. Even though it flitted about nervously, I managed to get several photos.

Down deep, the visibility was somewhat better and the first dive had an ethereal quality to it as early morning sunlight filtered down through the siltier water above. On the southern end of the bay I visited a cave and discovered this beautiful Tiger Cowrie near the entrance.

The Tiger Cowrie is the biggest cowrie found in Hawai'i. Like all cowries it has an incredibly glossy, smooth shell that is beautiful to behold. The sheen comes from two folds of tissue, called the mantle, that envelop the shell while the foot of the snail is extended. This tissue secretes oils which give the shell its glossy finish. The place where the two folds meet leaves a line on the shell as seen in the photo.

On the second dive, I headed north. As I cruised over an area of coral rubble I came across five tiny bright gold and white fish which had staked out a piece of the reef for their own.

These are Pyramid Butterflyfish which are by no means rare but we don't often see them inside the bay at Honaunau. Usually they prefer deep-water drop-offs. Betty and I had seen a small group in this same general area years ago before a winter storm had reduced this area of reef to rubble. These are sub-adults, having the features of adults but still pretty small. They get their common name from thr area of brilliant white on their sides which resembles a pyramid.

I entered a swim-through that I like to visit but, once inside, encountered ripping surge and had to hang on for dear life. While wedged there, I saw two more cowries tucked in a little niche, safe from the liquid gale.

The big, dark one on the foreground is a Humpback Cowrie and the smaller one in the background is a Reticulated Cowrie. The surrounding walls of the swim-through are covered with brightly colored encrusting sponge.

As I made my way back to my exit point, I had my best encounter of the day. A big octopus was slinking across the reef near the drop-off. As I approached, it disappeared into the reef but soon became curious and peeked out. Eventually, it came out all the way, allowing me to start photographing. What happened next was wonderous. It slithered and jetted slowly from one coral head to another, allowing me to follow closely. It would pause sometimes, holding a pose and allowing photos from different angles. We eventually made our way into shallow waters where we attracted a small group of snorkelers. Finally, it found itself backed up against a stone wall and could lead me no further. That's when it did something amazing. It slithered confidently forward backing me up for around 10 feet or more

The octopus has been proven to be an intelligent creature and I think this one figured out very quickly that I would keep a certain distance from it. That would be quite correct as I was following it only to take its picture. In order to do so, I couldn't get too close or it wouldn't fit into the frame. While it knew nothing of photography, the octopus had figured out my proximity tolerance and felt safe approaching me anticipating that I would back away, which I did.

By now I was low on air and it was prudent to surface (a long way from my exit point, I must add). My octopus encounter had lasted around a half hour and I took 113 photos many of which didn't turn out well. However, I did get many good ones and the whole affair was very special to me and, maybe, to the octopus as well. It was an exceptional day of diving, even though the ocean conditions were just so-so.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Moorish Idols

The Moorish Idol is the iconic tropical reef fish and is immediately recognizable from its many appearances on numerous products relating to the ocean. It appears on beach towels, swimsuits, aquarium supplies, clothing, toys and a multitude of articles occurring in popular culture. Its name possibly stems from the belief that the Moors of Africa considered them a symbol of happiness.

It is a beautiful fish with bold yellow, black and white bars as well as a bright orange "saddle" over its long nose. It is a graceful swimmer, trailing its long dorsal streamer as it glides over the reef in search of sponges and tunicates to feed on. Moorish Idols are widely distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific. They are found on reefs all around Hawai'i and occur singly, in pairs and, rarely, in small schools.

The Hawaiian word for this fish is kihikihi which can mean "corners", "angular" or zig-zag". According to the literature, Moorish Idols have been around for a long time. Fossil remains of a close relative of this fish dated as being 50 million years old have been found in Italy.