CRITTER: Meet the striped mullet, the fish of the chiefs,

Meet the striped mullet, the fish of the chiefs.

There are three types of mullets that are native to Hawai‘i and ‘ama‘ama the striped mullet is the largest species growing to about 25 inches. This silver fish with black edges around its fins lives in shallow water close to shore often in large schools.

They feed by sucking up sand and removing organic material out with their gills. They are super difficult to see while snorkeling because they are usually right in the surf zone and their silver color blends in with the bubbles of the surf and the sun’s rays reflecting into the shallow water. At night they sleep by themselves in shallow lagoons and that is the best time to see them because they remain still and their silver scales glow in the dive lights.

The striped mullet was a very important food source in old Hawai‘i and was often raised in fish ponds. The captive raised ‘ama‘ama were often only eaten by the chiefs and were considered very special fish. Striped mullets spawn in brackish water in estuaries and lagoons so they do quite well in the fish ponds.

The Hawaiian has several different names for the mullets depending on their size. The new baby fingerlings were called “pua‘ama;” the hand size mullets were called “kahaha,” and the 10 inch to 20 inch adults were called ‘ama‘ama. Sometimes there are some super large adult striped mullets and they are called “‘anae.” The striped mullets live around the entire island chain but in a certain time of the year they migrate in huge numbers to certain shallow water lagoons, estuaries and river mouths to spawn. When the baby mullets hatch they often will float on sea surface currents for a great distance before settling down to the seafloor.

Baby striped mullets may hatch on one side of an island but may drift to a whole different part of the island and maybe even a completely different island to grow into an adult.

We are currently doing a study on this fish and the striped mullets that live in Ni‘ihau may actually hatch out on Kaua‘i and drift in currents 26 miles to Ni‘ihau! DNA testing will really help the study and we hope to raise the funds to do that soon.

You can identify the ‘ama‘ama from the smaller sharp-nose mullets that live in large schools and swim right below the sea surface whereas the striped mullet normally stays on the bottom. Hawaii also has the moi, or thread-fin mullet that feeds on the sand in shallow water but this fish has a modified pectoral fin that has six threadlike segments that they use to detect small crabs that live under the sand. The striped mullet also has a row of gray stripes going down its body the other species lack.

Sometimes the large adult striped mullet will jump out of the water where you can easily see them from shore. We are not quite sure why they do this but they may be being chased by a large predator like a barracuda. You can see ‘ama‘ama in action in my video “The World’s Guide To Hawaiian Reef Fish up on my underwater educational web at www.underwater2web.com.

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Terry Lilley is a marine biologist living in Hanalei Kaua‘i and co-founder of Reef Guardians Hawai‘i, a nonprofit on a mission to provide education and resources to protect the coral reef. To donate to Reef Guardians Hawaii go to www.reefguardianshawaii.org.