CRITTER: Meet pohaku puna the finger coral
The giant finger coral is one of the most common coral species in Hawai‘i, but are often missidentified. This coral can grow for hundreds of years and build an entire reef over time, and when you are walking in downtown Waikiki you are standing on a massive fossil reef of this coral species!
CRITTER: Meet the Long-Handed Spiny Lobster
I was diving down a steep underwater 400 foot cliff near the island of Ni‘ihau and at about 100 feet deep my dive buddy pointed into a hole in the cliff to show me something interesting to take a video of.
CRITTER: Meet puhi the Stout Moray Eel
This two foot long moray eel is the most common eel in Hawaiian waters but it is usually misidentified.
CRITTER: Meet pupu’ala the Hebrew Cone Shell
Almost every jewelry store in Hawai‘i sells puka shell necklaces but very few people know where these puka shells come from! Hawaii is very unique because we have large surf that crashes directly onto our reefs and beaches grinding up corals and shells. This is what makes our beach sand so beautiful but it makes it very hard to find whole shells up on the beach.
CRITTER: From the deep: Meet the Knifejaw fish
500 years ago in Hawaii before snorkel masks and fishing poles were invented the native Hawaiians stabbed fish with spears by hand or used several different types of fish traps.
CRITTER: Meet ponuhunuhu, the star-eye parrot-fish that makes out beaches
This 20-inch-long, shallow-water parrot-fish helps make our beautiful beaches here in Hawai‘i.
CRITTER: ‘Awa’ is Hawaiian name for the giant milk-fish
This time of year when the surf starts to get smaller on the north shore of Oahu and Kauai we get a deep water visitor.
CRITTER: Meet kahala the Almaco Jack
When out diving in Hawaiian waters you may see a very large four foot long silver colored fish go by which is not too unusual as we have some big fish species that live in fairly shallow water.
CRITTER: Meet manini the Convict Tang
Almost all divers here in Hawaii have seen large schools of manini as they are the most common fish that lives in shallow water but most divers do not know how important this fish is to the entire marine ecosystem.
CRITTER: Meet the Hawaiian Tiger Flatworm
We have lots of strange creatures that live out on our coral reefs here in Hawaii but the Tiger Flatworm ranks as one of the most bizarre. This three inch long very colorful creature crawls across the reef during the day and is highly poisonous. It contains in its skin tetrodotoxin which is the same poison that our pufferfish have in their skin.
CRITTER: Meet pu puhi the giant horned helmet shell
Most divers never see this huge 15 inch long marine snail except in the roadside shell stands.
CRITTER: Meet puhi uha the Hawaiian Conger Eel
This beautiful blue-grey four foot along eel is actually very common in shallow water here in Hawaii but they are rarely ever seen by divers.
CRITTER: Meet moano the manybar goat-fish
This beautiful foot long goatfish has many different colors and changes color depending on whether it is in a cave or out in the direct sunlight.
CRITTER: Night snorkeling with the Ambon Toby
Going out on a night snorkel is like visiting a whole new planet! It is safe to do a night snorkel in shallow calm water when the surf is very small. Calm lagoons are best like Anini Beach in Kauai or Pupukea tide pool in Oahu.
CRITTER: Meet the blue rice coral
We have bright blue and purple corals that live in very shallow water here in Hawaii and also occur on other Pacific Islands from Palau to Tahiti!
Meet ‘o‘opu hue the Spotted Pufferfish
When you are diving and see this slow moving 15 inch long fish look but don’t touch! The pufferfish has a very deadly neurotoxin in its skin that is over 1,000 times more powerful than cyanide.
Meet the Kaua‘i Fireworm, or ‘aha huluhulu
This five inch long sea creature looks like it belongs in a Star Wars movie as it wiggles through the dark night sea as if it was in deep space.
Meet umauma lei the Orangespine Unicornfish
Many of the Hawaiian fish species only live in Hawaii because the island chain is so isolated that many fish species evolved here and nowhere else in the Pacific Ocean. For a fish to get all the way to Hawaii its eggs must be able to float in currents from as far away as Tahiti or Guam so over millions of years Hawaii has a lot of beautiful reef fish but not as many as most other Pacific Islands.
Meet humuhumu ‘ele’ele the Black Triggerfish
Most people are aware of the Hawaiian state fish the humuhumu-nukunuku-a-pua’a but they don’t realize we have several different types of triggerfish that all begin with the Hawaiian name humuhumu.
Meet the very rare Harlequin Shrimp
The two inch long Harlequin Shrimp is the most uncommon Hawaiian shrimp and by far the most bizarre!