Tag Archives: bullethead blenny

Blennies blending in

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On our December trip to Hawaii Hai brought Wendy and me out to a spot in Kawaihae Harbor where he’d found a colony of tiny, translucent shrimp—so-called long-armed shrimp, Cuapetes sp. The shrimp were living on the heavily overgrown remains of an old buoy suspended a couple of feet below low tide level. We saw several shrimp, but, vertebrate nut that I am, I paid more attention to the little fish living on the buoy than to the shrimp.

I lingered at the buoy for several minutes after Hai and Wendy had gotten their shrimp photos and moved on. It turned out there were at least three species of blenny living there. They were, like most blennies, tiny and cryptically colored to blend into their surroundings. These fish have a way of darting and freezing, blending into the background so well that the only way to spot them is to look for motion. There were probably several more blennies on the old buoy than I was able to find, but here are the three I did manage to spot:

This little Bullethead Blenny, maybe an inch and a half long, was living in a grown-over shackle attached to the buoy. It would pop its head out to see if the monster with a camera was still there, and quickly dart back in. I tried to photograph it several times, but the little guy would always disappear just before the shutter fired. I finally got this one. Bulletheads are probably the most common small blenny in Hawaii.
I’m pretty sure this one is a Mangrove Blenny, a species apparently introduced to Hawaii from the Indopacific. As far as I know it has only been observed on Oahu; never on the Big Island. So if it’s indeed a Mangrove Blenny, it’s a first for this island.
This may look like one of those old Magic Eye illusions, but it’s an endemic Hawaiian Triplefin that has really blended into the background. This species is not a blenny in the strictest sense—triplefins are in their own family—but they’re close relatives, belonging to the same order: Blenniiformes.

The order Blenniiformes is huge, consisting of over 900 species worldwide. Hawaii has only around a dozen species, mostly inconspicuous bottom-dwellers. I have a particular fondness for these fish, and I’m not alone. Ned and Anna Deloach, world renowned authors, photographers, and general fish geeks have a blog devoted entirely to blennies. You might want to check it out: https://www.blennywatcher.com. You can see my numerous blenny posts by searching for “blenny” on this blog.

Oh yeah, here are some photos of the Long-armed shrimp we were originally looking for. Hai’s photos are a lot better than mine: https://kawaihaereef.org/page/2/. There’s a lot more great stuff on Hai’s blog.

Slummin’ at Pauoa Bay

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I’ve posted several times about Pauoa Bay, the dent in the coast at the Fairmont Orchid resort. When we were there the other day the water was stirred up and turbid everywhere except in the little man-made lagoon directly in front of the resort. This small lagoon is shallow, lacks coral, and is often crowded with tourists walking all over the bottom. Despite this, the lagoon is home to a surprising variety of fish. Apparently the advantage of calm, sheltered water—not all that common on this coast—outweighs the negatives of human feet and a relatively lifeless bottom.

The lagoon at Pauoa Bay. There are often many more people in the water than shown here.
This Zebra Blenny—about four inches long—peeked out from a hole in one of the rocks at the lagoon’s edge. From time to time it would dart out of its stronghold to grab something floating by. These fish are often found in tidepools, and almost never go below a few feet. This one was so shallow that its head came out of the water between each of the tiny swells that made it into the lagoon. (It wasn’t easy to get in close enough to get this photo.) The species is a Hawaii endemic.
Bullethead Blenny, another shallow water species. This one was about three inches long.
A small Snowflake Moray prowling the the lagoon’s rubble floor. These handsome eels eat mostly hard-shelled invertebrates. To this end they have platelike teeth rather than the sharp fangs that make many other moray species look so menacing.
A large Day Octopus doing a little cooperative hunting with a small Bluefin Trevally (right) and Manybar Goatfish.

More tiny blennies

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In September I posted a photo of a little Gosline’s Fang Blenny poking its head out from a hole in the reef. It’s easy to spot the fang blennies because they spend most of their time swimming conspicuously above the reef, only retreating to their hidey-holes when they feel threatened. There are other types of blennies that occupy these holes, but, while supposedly quite common, they’re a lot harder to spot. That’s because when not in their holes they tend to lie motionless on the reef, blending in with their cryptic coloration. I’ve been seeing them a lot more often recently—maybe because I’m getting better at finding them. Here are a couple from recent snorkel outings:

A Bullethead Blenny peering out from its hole in about three feet of surgey water at Mahukona. It lay motionless—and quite hard to spot—on the reef until I approached, when it shot unbelievably quickly into its hole, tail-first. This one was about three inches long—they reach about four inches. There’s a photo of this species lying exposed on the reef here: https://onebreathkohala.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/hapuna-beach-its-not-just-for-boogie-boarding/

A Strasburg’s Blenny at Hapuna Beach. Like the Bulletheads, the Strasburg’s lives mostly in shallow, surgey water. The surge on this day made it difficult to get much of a photo of this little guy. The fact that its head was just a few millimeters across didn’t help. These endemics are among Hawaii’s smallest blennies, maxing out at only two inches.

 

Hapuna Beach—not just for boogie boarding

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Our friends Vanessa and Robert, visiting from the mainland, are avid snorkelers.  The other day, having already hit some of the most popular snorkeling spots in the area, we went for a snorkel at Hapuna Beach.  Hapuna is known primarily for its broad expanse of sandy beach—not all that common on this island—and, when conditions are right, a slamming shore break that provides great boogie boarding.

But Hapuna also offers some very nice snorkeling.  We snorkeled out along the rocks that flank the north edge of the beach and around the corner in the direction of the Mauna Kea resort.  There’s not as much coral as, for instance, Mahukona or Makaiwa Bay.  Instead, it’s mostly rocky ledge bordering extensive, relatively shallow sandy bottom.  This sand-rock ecotone attracts a different assortment of fish from the coral-dominated sites we usually snorkel at.  Large surgeonfish and chubs are especially abundant, many of the coral-eating small butterflyfish are relatively uncommon, and yellow tangs are virtually absent.  I’ve seen milkfish and bandtail goatfish at Hapuna, but nowhere else.  Here are a few photos, not necessarily reflecting the differences I’ve just described.

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The ubiquitous stocky hawkfish with the even more ubiquitous brown surgeonfish. Note the rocky substrate—not much coral here.

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Schools of juvenile bluefin trevally (omilu) patrol the sand for small invertebrates and fish.

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Bullethead blenny. These small fish are supposed to be quite common, but are hard to spot, spending a lot of time peering out from their burrows. I’ve only spotted one a handful of times, and have not until now had a chance to get a photo. This fish belongs to the same genus as the redspotted blenny shown in the February 18 post.

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Ambon tobies are farily common at most of the sites I snorkel, but they’re skittish and difficult to photograph. This one was unusually accommodating.