Diving the Kona Coast: reticulated cowrie

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.

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.