Ocean
Watch
Monday, June 9, 1997
Ornery ono, however
tasty, demand respect
I didn't have to wonder what to write about in my
column today. Ono, the gamefish also called wahoo, have been tapping me on
the shoulder all week asking for some space.
I hadn't thought about ono for ages until my partner
Craig, an emergency room doctor, told me about an unusual case he had
recently. A fisherman came in with a bad bite on the foot and ankle
inflicted by a 25-pound ono.
"In the water?" I asked, picturing the fish
swimming after the guy.
"No, no. In the guy's boat. After he landed it,
the fish thrashed around and bit him. It was pretty bad. It took a lot of
stitches to close it up ... a lot of stitches."
A couple of days later, we ran into a fisherman friend
and told the ER story. "I didn't know ono could hurt you like
that," I said.
"Oh sure," he said. "Those fish have
teeth like razors. I've heard of them cutting a person even after the fish
is dead. You barely have to touch those razor teeth to get injured."
Imagining rows of shiny little razor blades, I wondered
what those sharp teeth looked like.
I didn't have to wonder long. Later that week, Craig
and I were strolling through the Ala Wai Boat Harbor when we were stopped
in our tracks.
There in the back of a pickup were four freshly caught
ono, about 25 pounds each. They were dead, but one had its mouth wide
open.
We leaned close. The teeth were not metal rectangles;
they were tiny white triangles, closely set and scalpel sharp.
"Hello?" said the owner of the truck,
wondering what we were doing.
"We're admiring your catch," I told him.
"These fish have pretty fierce-looking teeth."
"Like razors," he said.
"So we've heard."
"They're also good to eat," he added.
"That's why they call them ono."
To newcomers, the word ono also means delicious in
Hawaiian. And these fish have good reason to be delicious: They're close
relatives of tunas and mackerels. You can easily see the family
resemblance of all these fish in the tiny finlets on the upper and lower
side of the bodies, just ahead of the tail.
Ono are distinct in the family for their narrow bodies,
up to 6 feet long, and sharp-pointed heads.
These strong, fast-swimming meat-eaters feed on squid
and other fish. Ono have been known to take bites from the sides of tunas.
Anglers fish for ono in Hawaii's channels where these
fish swim alone near the surface.
Ono are found throughout the world's tropical and
subtropical waters. The world record for ono is 149 pounds, caught in the
Bahamas in 1962. Most catches, however, are around 20 to 30 pounds.
I hope ono haven't yet finished demanding my attention.
I'd now like to see one on a menu.
