This entry was posted on Sunday, August 24th, 2008 at 10:17 pm and is filed under About, Adventure Cruises, History, 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 Dr. John Randall
They are incredibly shy and really cute! The Hawaiian garden eel ,or Puhi in Hawaiian, is an eel who prefers to hide in sandy substrates 35-175 feet deep. They are a light, greenish grey with small brownish yellow spots. Their bodies are extremely elongate and can reach a length of about 2 feet. These beauties are zooplankton eaters who prefer to feed diurnally. I have not seen them as a diver but know many divers who have had the pleasure of sneaking up on them while doing the ‘belly crawl’ in order to obtain the valuable photo. The above picture was taken off Kona, and as you can see, they live in large colonies, but if they become aware of the diver, or SNUBA person, they will quickly retract, tail first and disappear. According to Dr. Randall these eels may well be endemic to Hawaii. There is a well known colony that lives outside Molokini, one off Lana’i, and yet another off Olowalu, just to name a few.
So, what eats these eels? Many types of fish would take the shy ones if given the opportunity. Hammerhead sharks would certainly welcome this meal as would the stingray. With these eels large staring eyes and quick reflexes, one can’t help but love them. Bring your cameras, we’re going in!
