Fire Dart fish.

[friscuba]

...lucky you dive Kona... In over 35yrs of sucking air through a hose and with a reputation for having "squid-eye", I have yet to see one here....

Where's here? Speaking of squid, I've never seen a reef squid here on Kona. That's one I hear people see on the other islands that we really don't see here. We had a diver who claimed he saw 2 last week, I was there with him for the 2nd- it was a trumpetfish.

 

[justleesa]

for bluemagoo here means Oahu ( BTW bluemagoo, where were you when we had our get together?)

 

[bluemagoo]

Where's here? Speaking of squid, I've never seen a reef squid here on Kona. That's one I hear people see on the other islands that we really don't see here. We had a diver who claimed he saw 2 last week, I was there with him for the 2nd- it was a trumpetfish.

"Here" as in mainly Oahu but also I've never seen dartfish on any trip to any of the other islands. "Squid eye" is local slang for having a sharp eye. You hear it a lot among guys who go "torching"; fishermen who walk the reefs at night with lanterns and pole spears. More directly, squid-eye refers being able to consistently find octopus when no one else can -- yeah, an octo is not a squid, but that's the way slang is. I've seen real squid and cuttlefish while diving, generally hovering over shallow broken bottoms with algae in depths from 3 to 30ft, generally in packs of a half-dozen or so; their prey is probably juvenile fish living near shore. My mom's uncle knew how to fill a 5-gallon bucket with squid in a few hours of freediving; he never told me how he did it or where but I know he didn't use barrier nets. He would just say, "Nah easy. Jus' find 'em an' scoop 'em". Yeah, right. I kind of think he went at dawn or dusk when the light's confusing, stalked them and then clamshelled or spooked them into large homemade monofilament hand nets. All that while just holding his breath. Used no bait or lures as far as I know, but could've hung a lantern on his boat to use as an attractor. I don't know. Just another mysterious Hawaiian waterman...

 

[bluemagoo]

for bluemagoo here means Oahu ( BTW bluemagoo, where were you when we had our get together?)

...that weekend got absorbed for rearranging furniture for mom'n'dad; Sis's getting the "D" and moving back in while looking for a place... Fortunately, only had to work until I wrenched my back... again. The Halloween gig is also very very iffy -- big happenings at work at that time; will even have to pass on a class re-union. Haven't even had the chance yet to replace my 1st stage after it let go after 18yrs of t.l.c. -- the ungrateful thing.

 

[cuddlefish]

I've been here ten years and have found that they "visit" every few years. It's very odd...they show up, we see them for a few months...then they are gone! Perhaps they drift here in larval/pelagic form, settle in and thrive for a short time, but then die off and aren't able to support a permanent population.

 

[justleesa]

Interesting, thanks for the info Cuddlefish

 

[justleesa]

...that weekend got absorbed for rearranging furniture for mom'n'dad; Sis's getting the "D" and moving back in while looking for a place... Fortunately, only had to work until I wrenched my back... again. The Halloween gig is also very very iffy -- big happenings at work at that time; will even have to pass on a class re-union. Haven't even had the chance yet to replace my 1st stage after it let go after 18yrs of t.l.c. -- the ungrateful thing.

What a bummer...well there is always thanksgiving...christmas ....

 

[urmegr]

I have never seen one on Kauai, but this summer I did see one for about 3 weeks on Niihau, it was in about 60 feet in the rubble, There are a lot of flagtail tilefish in the area, So it may have just moved. next summer if I get the chance and I am not leading a group, I may do an extensive search in the area with my still camera as I only have shot video of it.
I have heard they are plentiful on Kona.