A Pink-tailed Triggerfish at Kahekili Beach

Riding the first wave of tourism back to Hawaii when the state started allowing COVID-screened visitors in October, I was starved for the type of travel that had been on hold for most of the year. Part of that hunger was a drive to swim in the water off Maui and to reacquaint myself with the many denizens of the sea. I was especially heartened when I quickly stumbled upon a relatively uncommon fish for me, the pink-tailed triggerfish.

It's in a family with the reef triggerfish, a fish that epitomizes snorkeling on Hawaii's reefs like no other. It's impossible not to spot this animated, striped resident of the coral reef every time you enter the water; no wonder it's the state fish of Hawaii.

The triggerfish is called as such because it can erect and lock its dorsal spine to hold itself tightly in a rocky crevice as a means of protection. It can only unlock this bone by the 'trigger' of a second dorsal spine that holds the first in place.

I regularly see another member of the family, the black triggerfish, in deeper water, where they swim in schools frequently close to the water's service. Initially individuals appear jet black but as you near them and dappled sunlight illuminates them, the stripes delineating their anal and dorsal fins glow a neon blue and their speckled complexions flash brilliantly in blue and ochre. It was above a reef off Kahekili Beach in Maui recently where I swam amid a group of dozens that seemed as curious about my presence as I was about their beauty and unusual gregariousness.

But it was the pink-tailed triggerfish that occupied most of my interest at Kahekili. I haven't noticed this large fish every time I've snorkeled off Maui during previous visits. Last year on the neighboring island of Kauai, I don't think I saw any. But over my recent week-long trip to Maui, I seemed to see at least one a day, no matter where I swam.

Interestingly Kahekili Beach Park is usually not high on my list of places to snorkel when I'm in Maui. I've mostly overlooked it in favor of nearby Black Rock with its so-named promontory protecting a coral-strewn volcanic cliff (watch for the human divers above!). Also, I'm a big fan of the idyllic locales of Napili and Kapalua.

Kahekili was once known for its airport, which closed in 1986. Since then, resorts have sprouted up, along with a picnic pavilion with restrooms, a grassy lawn for sand-free lounging, and plenty of free parking. But most importantly, a wide, sandy beach gives easy access to a teaming coral reef just a few feet off shore.

Amid the splendid varieties of corals, I've encountered the usual array of reef inhabitants: schools of yellow tangs, lone parrotfish, bashful green sea turtles. But I've been impressed with unique finds too, like octopuses, eels, and, just recently, plenty of pink-tailed triggerfish.

This wasn't the easiest fish for me to photograph over the recent week I spent snorkeling off of northwest Maui's coast. While I regularly encountered individuals, they unsurprisingly tended to quickly swim away from me when I approached them. But worse, they seemed to hunt for whatever sea delicacies they ate in deeper water than the other subjects I pursued. As a result there wasn't enough light at their depth for my point-and-click camera to capture a clear shot.

This challenge might have been part of what attracted me to the pink-tailed triggerfish. Also, I was not very familiar with the fish. And of course, it's a beautiful subject, sporting a distinctive rosy tail along with chartreuse pectoral fins. It's also elegant, with dorsal and anal fins gracefully undulating as it navigates the reef twenty feet below.

Kahekili's reef is especially deep at its south end, creating a calm, attractive spot for beginner scuba divers. But unless you're skilled at freediving (I'm not), it's a tough location for a snorkeler to observe and photograph subjects more than a dozen feet away. However that was where on my last day in the water on Maui I spotted an especially cooperative pink-tailed triggerfish.

It never approached the water's surface where I floated, my masked face immersed and peering below. But the fish let me hover directly over it and watch it hunt for edibles amid the coral. And after a cloudy and windy start to my morning snorkel, the skies had cleared and the waves flattened, allowing light and stillness to cooperate while I aimed my camera.

I paddled and circled for at least ten minutes, my back basking in the warming sunshine. But the triggerfish sometimes faded in the deep water partially thickened by the detritus and offal of other sea life. Nevertheless I couldn't resist snapping many easy, direct shots from above.

A few of the pictures were clear enough to hold on to, and to even publish here, keepsakes of my last precious dip in Maui's tropical waters. The pink-tailed triggerfish is just one of the many sirens beckoning me to return to Hawaii for more underwater adventures.