Fish and eel identify help please.

[redrover]

Big Island, Hawaii – 08/05
Lousy photos, my apologies.


When snorkeling saw this swimming eel at 6’ under
City of Refuge
Think I saw it again a couple of days ago buried in coral with only 6’ of body showing but same pattern and same place (with no camera of course.) The color was a creamy base with warm brown splotches, a very regular irregular pattern. 3 – 4” diameter.

This fish really stunned me having seen nothing like it in years of snorkeling here (recent diver). Snorkeling at Captain Cook Monument in 1 – 2’ at shore in mangrove roots. The heavy surge kicked the halibut out of me trying to get a photo. There were several, all looked the same, a dusky grey with striking white spots.
8 - 10” maybe, looked big compared to big Sargent Majors.

 

[Vie]

Eel is probably an undulated moray Gymnothorax undulatus

The fish may be a lowfin drummer Kyphosus vaigiensis—according to Reef Fish Identification Tropical Pacific (Allen, Steene Humann and DeLoach; page 132), this fish is normally “silvery gray with narrow bronzy stripes” but can “change rapidly to pattern with numerous white spots.”

 

[redrover]

Mahalo Vie!
I kept thinking an Undulated Eel too but going back to my books I waffle not really seeing a pattern close enough. Seeing it can be almost all cream to almost all dark….well I think an Undulated too. I’ve seen several I felt comfortable identifying; I chickened out on this one.

The spotted guy I think you may be right on! Listed and showing primarily horiz stripes, called a Brassy Chub or nenue here. I did see a lot of them out over deeper water, never connected they could change that much. Hoover says they get spotted when grazing (saw at shore over algae rocks) and if threatened it intensifies (I was trying to hang out and look but was getting a heavy wash cycling and they seemed skittish from a fair distance.) All the pictures I see online (google) are the stripey kind but one. I think I got the full intensified version.
Ah ha, Hoover does have a photo online. I gotta get a newer book.

Thank you soooo much, they were really bugging me.
XO Lisa

 

[Vie]

Mahalo Vie!
I kept thinking an Undulated Eel too but going back to my books I waffle not really seeing a pattern close enough. Seeing it can be almost all cream to almost all dark….well I think an Undulated too. I’ve seen several I felt comfortable identifying; I chickened out on this one.

Yeah, it’s a tentative ID—you need at least a pretty clear, close-up headshot to positively ID a spotted/patterned moray (there are many with similar markings to the one in your photo). I picked the undulated as the colour is pretty close and it is quite common in Hawaii.

Thank you soooo much, they were really bugging me.
XO Lisa

No probs—glad I could be of assistance.

 

[redrover]

Yep, got a confirm from Hoover (Hawaii's Fishes). And able to confirm myself Saturday at City of Refuge. Several of the Brassy Chub in close to shore but over 6’ water and got to see the spots come out.
Was a bit different tho as I didn’t try to come close – they came close. I just stopped to look for any in the shallow 1’ shore and the ones deeper circled me and flashed spots briefly.
I’d a really wondered if I was hallucinating or something to see them flash from stripes to spots before my eyes without having found this info.

 

[DennisW]

I'm not very familiar with Pacific fishes, but that fish surely is a Chub. I did not see one when I dived the City of Refuge last year. Interesting fish.

 

[redrover]

Yeah, one of the benefits of diving a location over time – stuff comes and goes. The last two weeks seeing the chub (lots on Saturday) and none for months previously.
Another one here is the Fire Dartfish “unknown in Hawaii until 1975...and rare in Hawaii” (Hawaii’s Fishes, Hoover) I’ve recently seen a number of. Lizard fish I’d seen only once or twice snorkeling in 6 years here; I’ve seen at least one every time just snorkeling out from City of Refuge - every time for a month now.