What it teaches us for Ukumehame and Olowalu Forty years ago a fanciful little piece titled “Our Living Reefs” filled some space in a corner of a page in the The Maui News. It contained flowery words such as “rainbow profusion” and “underwater fairyland.” But it also contained eight surprisingly wise words that we’ve seemingly forgotten today. The eight words were …
Tagged turtle #K681 and tagging news from George Balazs
Of the thousands of Hawaiian green sea turtles tagged in the islands since 1973 we have only had the luck of seeing 8 of them here off of Maui. Of these, 5 were tagged off the Big Island, 2 up at French Frigate Shoals and one off of Makena, Maui. For years metal tags were attached to some of the …
Rockmover wrasse – Maui’s newest vertebratarian
According to the known literature, rockmover wrasses (Novaculichthys taeniourus) feed on invertebrates. They can often be seen picking up rocks and tossing them out of the way to uncover small crabs, brittle stars, snails, urchins, worms, etc. Sometimes they will even hit these prey items against rocks in an attempt to break them into more manageable-sized pieces for swallowing. So, …
Return of the Tritons
Two female triton’s trumpets return to their nesting sites 1-3 years later I’m sure there are other jobs out there like mine. The kind of job where, if you have the day off, you are wondering what you are missing by not being at work. When I see that in writing I admit it looks kind of crazy, but I …
2011 tsunami effects on Maui marine life
The launch of our new website falls in the first anniversary week of the tsunami that devastated Japan on March 11, 2011. While Maui received only a hint of damage in comparison, there was a noteworthy impact on Maui’s marine life. The Maui News built its story around a female 200-pound turtle that washed a remarkable distance up a drainage …