Bay Watch: Tread lightly when visiting Hawai‘i Island’s Kahalu‘u Bay

March/April 2014 (AAA Hawai‘i Magazine)—I sucked in a big breath and dived down to get closer to the industrious little blue, magenta, and yellow fish darting around the coral head, nipping at the larger reef fish that kept approaching it. Why did the bigger fish keep coming back only to get nipped again? They weren’t masochists, nor was the smaller fish being a meanie. The little guy was a cleaner wrasse that feeds on parasites found on the skin of other reef fish. For the bigger fish, this practice is like going to the spa for an exfoliation. They look for places where the cleaner wrasses hang out—what marine biologists call “cleaning stations.”
» Read more