Monday, June 29, 1998
Beware: Convict tangs
carry concealed weapons
RECENTLY, during a stroll on Kailua Beach, I came
across a perfect, full-sized convict tang, or manini, lying in the sand.
Thinking it might still be alive, I bent over and gently poked it.
Nothing. The lovely little surgeonfish was dead.
I knelt in the sand to look over the manini, taking
the opportunity to check out its scalpels. These blade-like spines, one
on each side of the tail base, are where these fish get their family
name of surgeonfish. However, while snorkeling around manini, I can
never see these blades, even though they're obvious in other species.
Now, even with my eyes just inches from the fish, I
still couldn't see any spines.
"It's a manini," a passerby said
condescendingly.
The guy, no doubt, thought I was an idiot for peering
at this fish so intently. Convict tangs are the most abundant
surgeonfish in Hawaii.
I ignored him and continued my examination, running
my fingers over the fleshy part of the fish's tail. Not a hint of a
scalpel.
I fetched my friend. "Look," I said, once
again rubbing my finger along the fish's tail. "There aren't any
spines on this manini." And with that, I felt a sharp pain and my
finger started to bleed.
We laughed over that, then both perused the fish
again. There it was, a tiny groove on each side of the fish's tail. And
inside that groove lay a perfectly camouflaged scalpel.
I connected with the scalpel the second time because
I had run my finger from the back of the fish to the front, thus causing
the spine to protrude slightly. It was razor sharp.
Ancient Hawaiians knew all about the manini's sharp
spines, naming them kakala, or spur of the cock.
In ancient Hawaii, manini were a popular food fish,
enjoyed by royalty and commoners alike. Hawaiians preferred this fish
raw, salted and not cleaned of its guts.
Convict tangs get their English name from the six
black bars running down their sides. The Hawaiian name, manini, means
stingy or small. I remember former Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi often
scoffing, "That's manini," of issues he thought trivial.
Convict tangs are common just about everywhere in
Hawaii. You can see huge schools of these reef fish grazing on algae at
Hanauma Bay, and I have seen enormous manini, also in large schools, on
Midway's reef.
When cruising in a group, convict tangs can easily
push away lone, seaweed-eating fish. These other reef fish are quite
aware of the manini's hidden scalpels.
Spawning season for this species in Hawaii runs from
December through July. Now is a good time to look for tiny manini
hatchlings, which hang out near shallow coral heads, then dart into
cracks when startled.
During the summer, ancient Hawaiians caught these
young manini, the size of postage stamps, and dried them with salt on
flat lava rocks. These fish chips stored well for future use or for
trade with people who lived inland.
After connecting with the convict tang's scalpel, I
showed my cut finger to my friend, a doctor. "Forget it," he
said. "It's manini."
