Aloha! This is another in a series of diaries meant to provide a brief respite from the struggles of the day and you remind you landlubbers out there that we share this planet with some amazing creatures. I really hope you enjoy your visit here this evening.
After Sunset
Great Frigatebird or 'Iwa
The Hawaiian name for this bird, 'Iwa, means theif for its habit of harassing other seabirds until they drop or even regurgitate their catch. They are not waterproof so they cannot dive into the water like our friends the boobies so they have to steal or pluck their catch off the surface or out of the air.
On Saturday we saw this 'Iwa diving at the surface so we stopped to watch what it was doing.
'Iwa and Malolo (Flying Fish)
The Frigate was diving to the surface attempting to catch flying fish out of the air.
'Iwa, Mahi Mahi & Malolo (splash)
The reason the flying fish were taking to air became apparent when we saw the mahi mahi flying through the air. Unfortunately for me this was a long was off and this photo is an extremely cropped portion of the frame I shot. The quality of the image is not great but it does show the moment.
'Iwa
They have the highest ratio of wing area to body weight of any bird and they are amazingly agile in the air.
Water
Now under the waves...
Trembling Nudibranch
Kahuna Nudibranch
White-bump Nudibranch
Kangaroo Nudibranch
Imperial Nudibranch
Hawaiian Red Lionfish
This was a pretty amazing experience for me. This spotted eagle ray came in for a cleaning by this Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse right in front of me. This is the closest I have been to an eagle ray.
Spotted Eagle Ray & Hawaiian Clearner Wrasse
Yellowmargin Moray
This is a little distrubing. Those of you familiar with these diaries probably remember that I've mentioned that you get to know individual animals when you dive the same spots frequently. This is a big yellowmargin moray I call Gramps because it often looks toothless in photos. It is almost always in the same place on the wreck The Mahi. On Saturday there was Gramps but I saw that it is dangling monofilament fishing line from its mouth, almost certainly having swallowed a hook. Hopefully the hook will rust out and the old eel will be ok.
"Gramps"
Yellowmargin Moray
I call this one the Lurker. It is almost always in this spot, a large pipe that comes up from the deck of the wreck, u-turns, and opens downward.
Viper Moray
Nasty looking critter huh?
Yellowmargin Moray and Banded Coral Shrimp
The shrimp clean parasite and dead skin off the eel.
Spinner Dolphin
This is Whitey. It is a juvenile Spinner Dolphin that is the lightest colored spinner I have ever seen. On Saturday afternoon it put on quite a show.
It was jumping and spinning repeatedly. When I got home an processed the images I discovered what I assume was the reason for the show.
You can see here a spot on its back that has been rubbed raw by a remora that was clinging onto the young dolphin. I assume in this image the remora has slid down around its body out of view because you can see it in this spot in almost all the other images I shot.
Spinner Dolphin
You can see the remora in this image. Remoras are fish that ride along on larger animals, dolphins, whales, mantas, sharks. From Wiki:
The relationship between remoras and their perfect hosts is most often taken to be one of commensalism, specifically phoresy. The host they attach to for transport gains nothing from the relationship, but also loses little. The remora benefits by using the host as transport and protection and also feeds on materials dropped by the host. There is controversy whether a remora's diet is primarily leftover fragments, or the feces of the host. In some species (Echeneis naucrates and E. neucratoides) consumption of host feces is strongly indicated in gut dissections.[4] For other species, such as those found in a host's mouth, scavenging of leftovers is more likely. For some remora and host pairings the relationship is closer to mutualism, with the remora cleaning bacteria and other parasites from the host.
I have noticed that many, if not most of the Spinners I have photographed doing acrobatics have remora clinging to them. Later in the day when the dolphins are rallying to head out for the evening hunt I believe they jump to communicate excitement and possibly directions but in the middle of the day I think they are often trying to knock off the pests.
Composite Photo of One Jump
Makaha Valley
Here is your bOOby...
Brown Booby
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