Ocean Watch

Monday, December 22, 1997

Strong winds push weird
glob onto Kailua Beach

WHEN the strong tradewinds were blowing our doors off a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't wait to get my work done so I could go to Kailua Beach.

No, not to windsurf.

ip,,,1I went to Kailua Beach for one of my other favorite pastimes -- to beachcomb.

When the wind blows onto shore for days like that, the beach has great potential for bearing ocean treasures.

Shivering in the gale-force wind, I headed down the beach, stooping and sorting through heaps of stranded stuff.

An hour later, I picked up a pink jellylike mass.

But it was nothing like any jellyfish I knew.

Rectangular in shape, the thing was a foot long, several inches wide, and almost elastic in texture.

I put it in a cup and went home. There, I paged through my books, looking for a clue.

Nothing.

I called the Waikiki Aquarium. It was Saturday. The people who might know what I had found weren't there.

Several times that weekend, I examined the mysterious pink thing. I laid it out and poked at the firm bubbles in its jelly wall. They did not break, and in spite of my abuse, the whole thing remained intact.

Finally, on Monday, I reached Carol Hopper, education director at the aquarium. Before I even finished my description, she said, "Sounds like frogfish eggs."

When I brought the thing to the aquarium, it was confirmed: I had found the egg mass of a frogfish. The people there knew this immediately because the aquarium's frogfish produce these masses regularly.

EVENTUALLY, an aquarium biologist told me, the jelly breaks up and the eggs (my "bubbles") hatch. Unfortunately, the tiny hatchlings don't live long in a tank. No one knows why.

Besides laying weird eggs, frogfish are some of the most bizarre fish on Hawaii's reefs.

Looking more like a piece of coral than a fish, frogfish can change the colors of their chunky bodies to almost perfectly match their surroundings.

Bearing no sharp spines or poison, these fish rely totally on such camouflage for catching prey and for defense.

The one time I saw a frogfish, I was scuba diving near the blow-hole on Oahu.

The fish was so invisible that my diving buddy could not see it even when I pointed it out just inches from her face.

But frogfish don't always blend in like that.

When their background is changed, the fish sometimes turn a bright yellow, orange or black, and stay that way for a long time. You can see this in the aquarium's frogfish.

ANOTHER name for a frogfish is anglerfish. This comes from the fleshy fishing pole and lure the fish dangles over its mouth. When prey comes to inspect, the frogfish engulfs it with lightning speed.

Frogfish get around by jet propulsion, taking water in through their big mouths then forcing it out through the gills.

I'm still thrilled by my windy day beach find.

ipNot only did I find something I didn't know about, but it turned out to be something unusual and interesting.