This entry was posted on Saturday, August 16th, 2008 at 8:10 pm and is filed under About, Adventure Cruises, Information, Sites, Snorkeling, Snuba. 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.
Photo Courtesy Fishbase.org
In Australia there are more species of this fish (known as leatherjackets down under) than anywhere else in the world. According to historians in Hawaii this fish was called lolou, probably because its greenish-white skin resembled the native fan palm. The fish was used for sorcery because the word lou means to hook, according to Mary Pukui. The scrawled filefish, as it is known in Hawaii, is also called broom tail by some locals. From time to time it will fan open the tail looking very much like a whisk broom. This author also has been told by a local kahu, or Hawaiian priest, that the meat was often toxic so being used for sorcery is what he remembers as a small boy, and told me stories of how this animal’s meat would be fed to someone that needed to be ‘taken out’. Whether this is fact, or not, it makes for an interesting story. I have also been told that their skin, which is very rough and leathery, was used as sandpaper by the ancient Hawaiians. That doesn’t surprise me as it is well known they never wasted anything and found uses for all things available to them.
The scrawled filefish is a real beauty. It is capable of changing colors at will, most likely used for camouflage, but possibly to communicate to others around and maybe even between sexes. According to Dr. Randall the male has longer spines on the posterior part of the body. When I was told this I found myself studying every filefish I could find to see which sex was in front of me. Also according to research, some are sexually dimorphic. In Hawaiian waters there are 8 species known, one of which spends their time in very deep water. They are omnivores, feeding on benthic animal and plant life, but also like to eat sponges, anemones, and fiery things like hydrozoans and gorgonians. They have amazing teeth that appear to be very sharp and triangular. When snorkeling look for this fish, which can sometimes be very curious and hold still for that amazing picture moment. There are several in our local aquarium as well. To float in the water column and hold very still can be a wonderful educational experience just to watch these animals eat, change colors, open their tails and communicate. Watch, learn, and enjoy what is in our blue backyard!
December 30th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
hello…
memorized…