Tritan's Trumpet Migration

[kidspot]

A friend mentioned an annual migration of Tritan's trumpets she had seen several years ago. What she saw were several hundred of them all gathering together and heading in toward shore.

Has anyone else seen this behavior and remember what time of year it was?

Aloha, Tim

 

[DiveWestOahu]

gawd i hope they don't,,,, they'll all end up on someones mantel.... i personally like seeing them where the crown of thorns hang out 8)

 

[kidspot]

I see one about 2x each month, figured this would be an interesting behavior to watch and possibly record, but I see your point.

btw - one of our divers found an empty shell a couple weeks ago which amazed us all - quite a trophy.

 

[justleesa]

someone once told me that if I ever see a nice shell I should break the tip off to make it less desirable for collectors...never did it...not sure if that is a wise thing to do either...

 

[kidspot]

Is it legal to take live shells in Hawaii? I assumed it was not ...

 

[justleesa]

legal or not...it's never stopped people from taking things

 

[kidspot]

unfortunately very true

 

[EastEndDiver]

I have a photo of two giant tridents mating............it was taken off Kona last month.Once I go thru my pics I will post it.

 

[kidspot]

btw - For anyone else looking up info on these things, spelling apparently "is" important

Charonia tritonis
Triton's Trumpet

Amazing how little shows up in a google search when the spelling is off, even if only by 3 or 4 (or 5 or 6) letters

Even with the correct spelling there does not seem to be much information about these creatures.

Aloha, Tim

 

[Charlie99]

I see one about 2x each month, figured this would be an interesting behavior to watch and possibly record, ......

Another interesting behavior to watch is a Triton's Trumpet attacking a Crown of Thorns. Set a Trumpet down next to a COT and the race is on!

A few years ago while loitering around solo in the shallows near the Extended Horizons boat, I saw the DM for the other group headed back carrying a Triton's Trumpet. This caught my attention because she's pretty eco-conscious. Then I remembered seeing a COT. Sure enough that's where she was headed. Both the TT and the COT reacted to the other's presence, and it was a pretty even race until the DM nudged the COT back towards the TT. 10 seconds later the TT had inserted it's probe into the COT and hit it with some venom. After that the COT was pretty much immobile.

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As for the "migration" that you've heard about, perhaps it is some sort of mass mating --- a pretty common reason for mass gatherings.