This foot-long goat-fish is very common here in Hawai‘i, and you usually see them near the base of rocky outcroppings, where they use their two appendages under their chin called barbels to find food. The barbels move quickly and can sense a worm, shrimp or crab under the sand or in a crack in the reef.
This foot-long goat-fish is very common here in Hawai‘i, and you usually see them near the base of rocky outcroppings, where they use their two appendages under their chin called barbels to find food. The barbels move quickly and can sense a worm, shrimp or crab under the sand or in a crack in the reef.
The barbels look like a goat’s beard, which gives them the name of goat-fish. Moano is so good at finding hidden prey that they are often followed by other predator fish like the omilu that tries to steal the food moano digs up from its hiding place.
The many-bar goat-fish comes in several different colors, and often divers think they are seeing two different fish species. With many of our fish here in Hawai‘i, identifying them by color is not too accurate, because fish like moano can change from gray and white to purple and blue in seconds. When the goat-fish is out feeding on the sand it turns gray and white to blend in with the sandy colors, but as soon as it moves into a rocky cave it turns red, purple and blue. Inside a cave with very little sunlight, the red-colored fish are actually black, so when moano is in a cave it looks black to its potential prey, but when we shine our bright lights on it all of the bold colors shine!
Like most all Hawaiian fish names, they have a specific meaning, and often relate the fish to other living creatures on land. Moano is also the red color of the blossoms of the ‘ohi‘a lehua tree. The name “moano” is sometimes confused with the name “moana,” which means “the deep blue sea.”
Moano sometimes will congregate in large groups for breeding. If you go snorkeling this time of year right as the sun goes down you may see many males swimming way up near the surface. They turn super dark with white tails, as they are trying to attract females, where they release their eggs in the open water to be fertilized by the male. When the baby moana hatch they float around for a while in the sea surface currents and may actually settle down to the sea floor in a completely different part of the island or maybe even on a different island!
You can see moano in action in my movie “The World’s Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fish” up on my underwater educational web page at www.underwater2web.com, and also see my underwater worldwide movies series on my YouTube at Underwater2web.
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Terry Lilley is a marine biologist living in Hanalei 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.
