Mike in the Wild

The triggerfish of Hawaii get a lot of attention because one of them, the reef triggerfish, is the official state fish of the Aloha state.  But the butterflyfish are often called the most beautiful fish on the coral reef, while the surgeonfish might actually be the most prevalent there.  I recently featured the triggerfish or the humuhumus in this blog, but take a look at these shots of two equally colorful and exotic families of fish that call the coral reefs of Maui home. Threadfin butterflyfish. Fourspot butterflyfish. Oval butterflyfish. Raccoon butterflyfish. Longnose butterflyfish. Ornate butterflyfish. Teardrop butterflyfish. Moorish idol.  While it's as bright and colorful as a butterflyfish, it's actually closer to the family of surgeonfish. Gold-ring surgeonfish. Achilles tang or surgeonfish. Yellow tang, also a type of surgeonfish. Brown surgeonfish. Ringtail surgeonfish. Sailfin tang, another ty...