This entry was posted on Sunday, July 13th, 2008 at 11:38 pm and is filed under Adventure Cruises. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Thornback Cowfish/Male Spotted Boxfish, Photo Courtesy Dr. Jack Randall
They are adorable! Staying under one foot in length, this species of little slow moving critters always look like they are whistling. The ancient Hawaiians called the Cowfish Makukana and the Boxfish, Moa, which was a variation of pahu, (trunk, box, cask, drum, chest, etc. Bald heads were sometimes ridiculed as drums, according to Mary Pukui, co-author of many Hawaiian language books). In ancient times, these fish were taboo to women.
I have not heard from any locals that this fish is eaten, and we can understand why. Instead of one spinal column as is with most fish, this little one can have a bony carapace that is triangular, quadrangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, or almost round in cross-section, according to Dr. Randall. The skin surface is very tough and on the plates, they have small tubercles. Their mouths are small, low on the head, and their gill openings are short, near vertical slits. They have no spines in the fins, making them appear to flutter about the reefs. They are very slow swimmers who feed on tunicates, sponges, some eating large amounts of algae. It doesn’t look like there is much to them! According to the experts, some secrete a toxin through their skin when stressed. Out of the six species seen in Hawaiian waters, one is seen only in deep water. The colorful male spotted boxfish in the picture above is one of my favorites. The female of this species is a drab brown with white spots, but still very cute.
These little darlings are not hard to photograph, so when planning your snorkeling trip, do bring a camera. Every time I see one of these fish, they make me smile while I keep thinking of Jiminy Cricket whistling a happy tune!
