Lizardfish below, White Terns above

Posted May 15, 2020

“Did you see anything?”

A man painting our Waialua apartment building asked me that last week as I headed, dripping wet, with mask, snorkel and fins in hand, toward the door.  He added, “I heard there’s not much out there.”

“I saw a lizardfish,” I said.

 

“What’s that?” he said.

“A fish that looks like a lizard. But without the legs.”

He laughed and he went back to painting.

As I thought about it, though, lizardfish do have legs, sort of. The bottom-dwelling ambush predators sometimes prop themselves up on their stiff lower fins, a way of tilting their pointy heads upward even more to look for prey. This pose, and the reptile-shaped head, is where lizardfish got their name.

A lizardfish’s upraised head sometimes shows a mouth full of sharp teeth, earning these fish the Australian nickname, “grinners.”

Some lizardfish rest on rocks or in rubble, their barred and speckled bodies good camouflage against the backgrounds. Other lizardfish partially bury themselves in sand to hide from passing prey. 

Because of this lie-in-wait hunting mode, we snorkelers and divers can often get close to lizardfish without startling them. Sometimes, though, lizardfish startle us. I’ve gulped sea water more than once as a result of a surprise lizardfish lunge. When striking, the well-camouflaged fish can dart up to six feet in a blur of speed.

In one study off Australia’s Lizard Island (named by Captain Cook for its land lizards, not its lizardfish), lizardfish struck every 35 minutes, but missed their marks 89 percent of the time. Even so, the lizardfish averaged a catch of two fish per day.

Hawaii’s Lizardfish range from 6 to 12 inches long. Of the 50 or so species in the world, Hawaii hosts 15. The general Hawaiian name for lizardfish is ‘ulae.

It’s hard to tell species apart, or even to spot one. But lizardfish are abundant off Hawaii’s shorelines, ranging from only a few feet deep to below scuba depths. You have to swim slow and look hard.

When I snorkel or dive with friends, I’m always far behind, because I linger at nooks and crannies, and sometimes, I simply stop and stare at the ocean floor. That’s why, when someone asks me if I saw anything, I always say yes.

 

White Tern Festival, 2020

Need a mood lift? Celebrate our city’s little angels and Honolulu’s official bird, the White Tern, at the week-long, virtual White Tern Festival.  The family-friendly event is sponsored by the Conservation Council of Hawaii and multiple Manu O Ku partners. 

Starts Saturday, May 16.

Go to: 

https://www.conservehawaii.org/manuokufestival/

 Also find the festival link and information at: http://www.whiteterns.org