Shooting Photos on the Reef

I never get tired of watching the huge schools of fish grazing on algae and flowing with the waves.  I snapped over a hundred pictures before I was forced to head back to shore as the cold and shivering started to take its toll on those normally steady camera hands. The water had a fair amount of particulates, probably due to the recent rainstorms and, perhaps, due to  people feeding the fish nearby so not all of the pictures were clear enough to keep.  However, here are a few to give you an idea of the amazing variety of fish.

Convict tangs (Manini in Hawaiian) and Blue-lined Surgeon 

 Blue Parrotfish and Convict tangs

 Moorish Idol

 Rockmover Wrasse

 Snowflake Moray

 Threadfin Butterfly fish

White bar Surgeon and Convict Tang

Queen's Surf

Finally a sunny day and a good excuse to get to the beach to snap some fish pictures.  Here's a few pictures of what we saw!

Bluespine Unicornfish

Cigar Wrasse

Lagoon Triggerfish

Orangespine Unicornfish (left) and Fantail filefish (right)

 Manini or Convict Tang and Bluespine Unicornfish browsing on algae on the reef.

 White Mouthed Moray, Gymnothorax melealgris, possibly a male and a female.

 White Mouthed Moray, Gymnothorax melealgris.

White Spotted Puffer

Waio'Opae

Two Four spot butterflyfish (two spots on either side if you're wondering!) and a Convict tang (Manini) at the Waio'Opae Nature Preserve on the island of Hawaii.

Manini - Convict Tang

Manini, or convict tang - so named for their stripes, are the cows of the sea. Large schools of them drift over the reef, cleaning the coral of algae as they browse. These were off of Waikiki beach on Oahu.

Video of the Moorish Idol

Here is a video of the Moorish Idol posted the other day. This is my very first video posted to youtube and, therefore, a test. It's not the best but it gives you an idea of what it's like trying to photograph fish while you're being shoved around by the surf.

The Moorish Idol was on the reef off of Waikiki, Hawaii. The red barred fish to the left of the Moorish Idol is a Moana, a type of goatfish that is native to Hawaii. The green fish with black stripes in a manini (a type of tang). There were also several other tangs that shot through the video.