Honolulu Star-Advertiser © Susan Scott
December 19, 2008
For years, I’ve found John Hoover’s fish and invertebrate books invaluable for writing this column.
John’s books cover only Hawaii animals, his science is spot-on and looking up facts in them is quick and easy.
What more could we fans of Hawaii’s marine life possibly want?
Well, John’s new book. It’s called “The Ultimate Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes, Sea Turtles, Dolphins, Whales and Seals,” ($25, Mutual Press), and the title is no exaggeration. This gem is so packed with pictures, facts, stories, legends and trivia about Hawaii’s marine life that I couldn’t get any work done the day it arrived. I even took it to my eye doctor’s office and tried to read it with my pupils dilated.
That’s because learning new facts about the animals I love is so much fun. I did not know, for instance, that manta rays have the largest brain-to-body-weight ratio of all fish.
Does that mean they’re supersmart? John deals with questions like this the way I would: He lets readers come to their own conclusions by relaying true stories of divers’, anglers’ or swimmers’ personal experiences.
These sidebars make compelling reading. In considering manta ray intelligence, for instance, a Maui divemaster relays her encounter with an injured manta at Molokini. The story is both moving and telling.
Another I liked was a Midway adventure called “Who will bell the cat?” During a shark study, several researchers would jump from the boat and swim off alone, each accumulating four or five Galapagos shark buddies that tagged along.
When the divers met under the boat for a safety stop, all their shark buddies came too, creating an impressive “rat pack” of sharks. The divers climbed onto the boat one by one via the only ladder, and as the number of people in the water decreased, the aggressiveness of the sharks increased.
One man, being the last diver, found himself with his back against the boat, kicking off sharks with his fins. Seeing this, the other divers reached down and hauled their friend, tank and all, out of the water.
This short story paints quite a picture.
Here’s something wonderful I learned in this book about humpback whales: The bumpy tubercles on the leading edges of the whale’s front fins (called pectorals) help the whale make tight, powerful turns. Windmill designers are using this principle as a model for big windmills to increase their power at slow speeds and reduce noise.
Because I get so many reports of sea snake sightings in Hawaii, the Caribbean and Atlantic, and so far they’ve all been eels, I’m glad to see that John included sea snakes in this guide.
Sea snakes occur only throughout the warm waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Of the 60 or so species in those oceans, the only one ever seen in Hawaii is the yellow-bellied sea snake, and it’s rare indeed. Fewer than 20 sightings have been recorded here, and most of those have been found washed up on shore where they are helpless.
We do have snake eels, however, and those, especially the saddled snake eel, are what people sometimes mistake for snakes. Once you see the picture of the saddled snake eel in this book, you’ll see why.
At first I wondered why John would write another fish guide, but now I know. If Santa brings you one, you’ll know too.