CRITTER: Meet puhi palahoana the Bearded Cusk Eel
There is a true deep sea monster here in Hawaii that lives in very shallow water but is rarely ever seen! This two foot long eel looks like a cross between a catfish and a moray eel and after 3,000 dives here in Hawaii I have only seen two of these unusual fish until the other night.
CRITTER: Meet Hawaii’s Super Rare Flame Angelfish
At one point in time it was thought that this extremely colorful four inch long angelfish may be extinct here in Hawaii as no one had seen one for years! I have done over 3,000 dives in the Hawaiian Islands and up until last year I had never seen this rare fish here in Hawaii but it is quite common in parts of the Philippines and the South Pacific.
CRITTER: Meet the Hawaiian fish that rides waves
Hawai‘i has a very unique marine ecosystem because of the large waves that break directly onto nearshore reefs. As far as islands go Hawai‘i is a new island chain and on the Big Island new land is added to the sea every few years from the erupting volcanoes.
CRITTER: Papa ‘i ako ‘ako’ a the Rainbow Swimming Crab
Scuba diving in a cave under the reef at 40 feet deep then looking up at the dark ceiling of the cave right into the psychedelic eyes of a 7-inch wide blue and orange crab is quite exciting!
CRITTER: Meet the gold lace nudibranch
This small soft bodied dorid sea slug is only found in the main Hawaiian Islands and was first discovered in 1982.
CRITTER: Meet hinalea the psychedelic wrasse
This small fast moving seven inch long fish only occurs in Hawaii and is rarely seen by divers. The juvenile female is red black and white and is usually seen on shallow reefs in groups of three or four.
CRITTER: Meet the Petroglyph shrimp
This is one Hawaiian reef creature you more than likely will never see but they are extremely common!
CRITTER: Meet the Hawaiian Blue Rice Coral
Most divers will tell you that Hawaiian corals are fairly boring to look at or photograph, but that is just not the case with the fluorescent, blue-rice coral! Early explorers that sailed into Hanalei Bay wrote about how the reef was bright blue and purple under the crystal-clear waters. Kaua‘i had the largest concentration of blue-rice coral I have ever seen in the entire Pacific Ocean until 2014 when most of it died.
CRITTER: Meet the rare Thompson’s Anthias Fish from Ni’ihau
I have been scuba diving all around the world for the last 20 years shooting marine life videos for a school educational program and my goal is to get video of the rarest fish species in the sea and study their behavior. It was really wonderful to find one of these rarely seen creatures right in my own backyard!
CRITTER: Meet kikakapu, the threadfin butterflyfish
Kikakapu, the threadfin butterflyfish, is one of the most common coral reef fish throughout the tropical Pacific, Indonesia, Africa and the Red Sea.
CRITTER: Meet pinao the oriental flying gurnard
This very-strange-looking, 10-inch-long fish does not actually fly above the sea surface like a flying fish, but it flies underwater right above the sandy sea floor! Pinao hates to swim, but it loves to crawl.
CRITTER: Meet kio the Christmastree worm
Do you know that many of our coral reefs here in Hawai‘i are just covered in what looks like tiny two-inch-long Christmas trees that grow on top of the live coral? There are some strange animals that grow in Hawaiian waters and kio is one of them!
CRITTER: Meet ‘o’ili the barred filefish
This 15-inch-long gray and yellow fish has a serious overbite and looks like it needs to go to the dentist! While diving you often hear this fish before you see it.
CRITTER: Meet nohu piano the Hawaiian green lionfish
Lionfish live all around the world in warm tropical waters and have venomous spines so they should be avoided while snorkeling or diving.
CRITTER: Meet pohaku puna the lobe coral
Almost everyone who has gone on a snorkel here in Hawai‘i has seen pohaku puna the giant lobe coral but most people can’t actually recognize this very common coral species.
CRITTER: Meet the clumpy nudibranch
Nudibranchs are soft-bodied, colorful sea slugs that make millions of dollars for dive companies worldwide each year!
CRITTER: Meet the Lumahai Cave Sponge and Gargonians
If you have ever driven a car from Hanalei Bay in Kauai to Ke’e Beach you have driven right over underwater caves that are just packed full of amazing colorful creatures! Kauai North Shore has giant surf in the winter that crashes onto the lava cliffs carving caves.
CRITTER: Meet ‘ama’ama the striped mullet
I you surf here in Hawaii you have more than likely paddled your surfboard right over dozens of these large silver fish that can grow to about two foot long and were a prize seafood for Hawaiian royalty in the past. The Striped Mullet lives in schools right in the shore break and their silver color blends in with the foam and bubbles created by the waves hitting the shoreline.
CRITTER: Meet laenihi the Peacock Razor Wrasse
This 5- to 10-inch long wrasse is quite common in Hawai‘i but most divers don’t see them because they live out on the sandy seafloor. The adults are solid grey and their Hawaiian name means “sharp forehead.” The young ones are a beautiful golden brown and have a huge dorsal filament fin that sticks out from the top of their head like a unicorn.
CRITTER: Meet muhe’e the bigfin squid
The bigfin squid is a cephalopod like he’e the octopus but it is a newcomer to shallow Hawaiian coral reefs.