Interesting Fact
Whales sing a new song every year!
Male humpback whales sing a complex song with identifiable phrases. The composition changes slightly over the course of the breeding season. By the next year, it’s a whole new tune!
Interesting Fact
Master Navigators
Most of Hawai‘i’s green sea turtles migrate to the Northwest Hawaiian Islands to nest. They rely on starlight and the earth’s magnetic fields to find their way thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean.
Interesting Fact
Underwater Barbershop
Hawaiian cleaner wrasses are the barbers of the sea. They tidy up other fish, removing parasites, mucus, and old skin from their fins and gills. A cleaner wrasse will even climb into an eel’s mouth for a bit of free dentistry!
Interesting Fact
Sea Dogs
The Hawaiian monk seal is one of the world’s rarest marine mammals. Endemic to the Hawaiian archipelago, less than 1,500 of these sweet-faced seals exist. The Hawaiian name ‘ilioholoikauaua means the “dog that runs in rough seas.”
Explore Hawai‘i’s Marine Life!
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Fishes
Devil Scorpionfish
Scorpionfishes are named for the venomous fin spines of many in this species. The most dangerous of them is the Stonefish, which has caused fatalities from wounds with it...
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Fishes
Hawaiian Spotted Eagle Ray, Bonnet Ray, Duck Bill Ray
The Hawaiian spotted eagle ray is also known as the bonnet ray, the duck bill ray and the spotted duck billed ray, but perhaps no other name than hihimanu describes it be...
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Fishes
Conger and Garden Eels
Conger eels have a nearly cylindrical body (which becomes compressed posteriorly), very well developed pectoral fins and a fairly large gill opening on the lower half of ...
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Fishes
Giant Trevally
The jacks, or trevally, are a family of strong-swimming predators frequently seen at drop-offs or near reefs. Usually silvery in color, most have streamlined bodies with ...
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Fishes
Gray Reef Shark
The gray reef shark is commonly found in coastal regions in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, near reefs neighboring oceanic waters. In Hawai‘i, the gray reef shark is mos...
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Fishes
Scalloped Hammerhead Shark
Found both in coastal and pelagic regions in all ocean of the world, the hammerhead shark is by far one of the most unique and distinct sharks in our oceans today. The sc...
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Fishes
Moray Eel
Seeing a moray eel while snorkeling or diving can be a very exciting experience. With rows of sharp, dangerous teeth, a snake-like body with an elusive lifestyle, the som...
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Fishes
Sandbar Shark
With a varying diet, sandbar sharks are opportunistic bottom-feeders, eating bony fish, cephalopods, crustaceans, other sharks, and rays. Pupping season is July to Septem...
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Fishes
Tiger Shark
Tiger sharks are common in coastal waters worldwide in tropical and temperate waters. It has a distinct broadly rounded snout with distinct serrated teeth. Juveniles have...
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Fishes
Common Longnose Butterflyfish
The common longnose butterflyfish (Forcipiger flavissimus) is one of two longnose butterflyfish species found in Hawaii. Commonly known as forcepfish, this species is be...
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Invertebrates
Spiny Lobster
The Hawaiian Islands lack true lobsters with distinguishing enlarged pincers on the first pair of legs. Instead, spiny lobsters are more predominate here in Hawaiian wate...
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Invertebrates
Sea Urchin
Frequently observed by snorkelers and divers, sea urchins are abundant in the Hawaiian Islands. Closely related to sea stars and sea cucumbers, these echinoderms are char...
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