Many reef fish change color for the night. Many lose their bright daytime colors to become rather drab, most likely in order to evade the predators who scour the reef at night. Moray eels, reef sharks, and more are on the hunt, looking for the fish hiding in the nooks and crannies of the reef. For the diver a nighttime reef it totally different, the clouds of fish hovering over the coral are gone. Here and there a few fish are visible, the color seemingly drained from them as they wait out the night.
A longnose butterflyfish (Forcipiger flavissimus) in nighttime coloration during a night dive at Puakō
Recently, a video filmed at Honokohau Harbor has brought shame to our island. The video depicts some young people landing a large Tiger shark on the rocks at the harbor entrance. The tackle used is ropes tied to the land. This was neither fishing for food or sport-fishing where the animal is fought with a rod. It was simply disrespect.
The 14ft tiger shark Laverne at Honokohau, photo by Pete TuckerThe shark is an important part of the Hawaiian culture. For some, the shark is ‘aumakua. But for all, the shark was respected, not a plaything: “In old Hawai’i, catching the niuhi was the game of the chiefs, a dangerous sport for which special techniques were developed, according to historian Mary Kawena Pukui. Eating niuhi flesh was also taboo to women.”
Today, sharks are globally threatened by the finning industry, which wastes the life of the shark for a few pounds of fin. Meanwhile, live sharks are an economic benefit to the dive industry. Shark dives bring in at least $125,000,000 per year globally and any Big Island dive operator can attest to the enthusiasm that’s generated even by a small reef shark.
Further, the sharks at Honokohau are well known to the community. Everyone knows Laverne, the largest resident female, but the shark in the video is Tony. (Tony survived: He was filmed by some divers two weeks after the video was shot.) You can see photos of Tony and the other tiger sharks of Honokohau at http://milisenphotography.yolasite.com/tiger-shark-id.php.
When the young men in the video returned the shark to the water, they were putting a large injured predator back into an area where dozens of people swim every day. Alua Beach, a popular place for families to bring keiki, is only a few hundred yards from where the shark was landed. There are multiple dive sites within a quarter mile to either side of the boat channel.
As with most regular divers at Honokohau, I’ve watched the sharks and the sharks have watched me. I’ve never forgotten that these are apex predators and need to be treated with respect (and watched from a distance). The sharks are there because it’s their natural territory and, probably, because of scraps from fisherman. There’s never been a shark attack reported at Honokohau.
Since:
– Sharks are important and culturally respected by native Hawai’ians; and – Sharks are not targeted by shore-fisherman for either sport or food; and – The area is frequented by swimmers, SCUBA divers, and free divers:
I would ask that the County of Hawai’i and/or DNLR to declare the area near the entrance of Honokohau Harbor as a “niuhi conservation zone” and forbid the intentional targeting by fisherman of large sharks within that area. The ban should forbid the use of hooks larger than those used for commonly-targeted sports and food fish and the use of anchored ropes or chains for fishing.
A truly disturbing video emerged this week. A couple guys hook and attempt to land a tiger shark. While the title claims it is a fourteen foot shark, it actually appears to be about six or eight feet long. The YouTube posting does not say, the location is Honokohau, where a number of tiger sharks are known to frequently enter the harbor. The poster and the person shown holding the line is a local named Mikey McCrum.
Judging by the YouTube comments most people are outraged at the behavior exhibited in the video. I will not even copy many of the comments here, they are simply too profane as people express their contempt. Hopefully those involved actually reads the comments and think a little, what they did is simply not acceptable.
You may know that a starfish can regenerate a lost limb. Seeing it in process? More extreme… A single limb regrowing the rest of the body? It is a bit surprising to see such a bold example of regeneration in process.
The limb may have been parted by injury. Another possibility here is reproduction. Some species reproduce by simply detaching an arm in a process called autotomy. The detached arm becomes a new individual. An impressive capability indeed.
A green linckia starfish (Linckia guildingi) in the process of regenerating from a single arm
Mark has done it again… Put together a great video on our diving with the Aqua Safari! The footage chronicles an absolutely fantastic day of diving back in July, the day before Tropical Storm Flossie rolled over the island, a day when the mantas danced with us…
It was a reasonably big eel, not the largest I have seen, but large. I stopped to take a couple pictures, even though I have plenty of photos of yellow-margin moray. The yellows are among the friendlier members of the morays, known to play with divers. Undulated morays, on the other hand, are downright nasty, biting at anything that intrudes on their space.
This is too close.
When this fellow comes out to inspect the camera, it is my turn to pull back a bit. True, it is the camera front and foremost, most likely to get nipped. Still, I give the eel a fair amount of respect, a “friendly” eel still possess a substantial bite.
A yellow margin moray (Gymnothorax flavimarginatus) comes out to inspect the camera.
Ever take a photo you think is going to be great, to have it ruined by too much color?
A spiny lobster (Panulirus marginatus) among orange cup coral (Tubastraea coccinea) at 20′ depth, PuakōI turned the color down in the image, then turned it down again. Even working from the raw data was of little use, the colors in this image are just too much. Not that it is a bad photo, just that given the elements of a pretty lobster and brilliant cup coral, I had expected it to be a great photo.
Some of the best underwater images I have are full of subtle colors and textures. While a splash of bright color can make a photo, too much bold color can take it too far. Another lesson in learning the art.
A number of parrotfish species can secrete an odd mucus cocoon in which the fish will sleep through the night. Divers will often find these fish at night, enveloped in a transparent balloon. The discarded cocoon makes an odd sight rolling around the reef the next day.
Even within the same species some fish will use this technique, some will not. It is not known how this behavior is useful to the fish. This very large bullethead parrotfish is sleeping without aid of a cocoon…
A large bullethead parrotfish (Chlorurus spilurus) sleeps in the coral
