Don’t worry! We’ve changed the name from “Graveyard Shift” to “Night Shift”! Should be okay…night, night goatfish!
If you're like me, you probably watched the movie Jaws at an impressionably young age. I remember two main points from that movie. One, never continue to swim after you hear theme music. And two, don't go swimming at night. It took me a looong time to get over that second point. Too long. Now, swimming at night is one of my favorite things to do.
You can think of life on the reef as divided into two parts--the day shift and the night shift. Separating these two distinct time periods you also have the tweener hours when critters are stirring or hunkering down. If you ever go out in the early morning just as the sun is rising or maybe take a late swim in the dusk hours, you'll notice the tweener hours.
For some, the night becomes a time to dress up in wild fashion. This jeweled anemone crab has slapped a couple anemones on to its shell for decoration.
The reef at night becomes a different world. The fish and critters you saw during the day are mostly gone, hiding in their little pukas here and there, many even changing their coloration to a darker, duskier color. Out come the creatures of the night--the mollusks and snails, the night-active eels, the nudibranches, the echinoderms, the crustaceans, and the cnidarians. Turn off your underwater lights and you can often see little bits of light here and there--bioluminescence from creatures here and there.
The snakehead cowry can be found at night with its mantle out.
Come with me and let's take a look at some of the wonderful things you'll find when the sun goes down.
This is the swollen bubble, roughly the size of a dime. This delicate little shell was found on the inner reef at Hanauma Bay.
The partridge tun is one of the larger mollusks you will find on the reef at night.
The is one of the prettiest shells, in my opinion. There are many size and color variations for this animal. At night you can find them out and active. This particular tiger cowry has its mantle out.
The night has a thousand eyes. And sometimes they’re just barely poking out of the sand. This is a closeup shot of a peacock flounder hiding in the sand. Note it’s sideways-facing mouth to the right of its left eye. Someone’s looking for dinner…
The night may have a thousand eyes, but it has a million teeth and this lizardfish seems to have half of those. Note the many tiny teeth that rim the mouth.
Dental Damage. You’re looking at the business end of an undulated moray eel. Contrary to what you may be thinking, this eel isn’t warning me so much as it is taking a break as it swam across the reef flat. Undulated morays eel hunt at night and are one of the more common eels you will see.
“Hey! I’m trying to work here!“ A puff of sand blankets the entire scene as the undulated moray eel strikes an unsuspecting cardinal fish.
Yellowmargin Moray. This is another of the more common eels that you can see at night. They are rather stout with a broad face and the anterior body has a yellow margin around it, not that you often get to see that much of this eel.
Sleeping Bag. Many parrotfish will sleep in bags of mucus at night. Although it is not known why, some speculate that it is used as a barrier, not as a physical one, but more of a sensory barrier.
I remember the first time I found a stareye parrotfish hunkered down for the night. It looked quite dead—complete with a nasty-colored opaque eye.
The aweoweo also hunkers down for the night. This one is resting under a ledge on the reef.
This little Hawaiian Whitespotted Toby has anchored on a brick for the night. Note the black lipstick…
Bad hair day(night). Even the wana can have a bad hair day. You often find them at night with spines bunched together in places like this one.
Brittle Star. During the day, brittle stars can be found under rocks and inside pukas on the reef. At night they become active and can be seen here and there. They still remain skittish and retreat upon inspection. Be careful and don’t try to handle one, as their limbs break off easily…
This is the lion’s paw, one of the coolest and most disgusting of all the night-time species of sea cucumbers. It looks like something from the movie “It Came From My Colon”…
The great thing about common names is that sometimes they aren’t terribly creative and are just plain straight-forward. This is the pebble collector urchin doing exactly what you would expect an animal with this name to be doing…
Banded coral shrimp are some of the most beautiful and delicate shrimp you can find on the reef. They are also commonly called the barber pole shrimp. Look at its arms and you can imagine why.
This is the regal slipper lobster. I don’t know why it’s called the regal slipper lobster. I’m guessing because red is a “regal” color, it’s the size of a slipper(if you happen to be a narrow-footed midg…err, vertically-challenged person, and “lobster” because it tastes good.
Hawaiian swimming crabs are another favorite of mine. I’m particularly drawn to the eyes, which are a neat black color with white pinstripes. I like watching these crabs on the reef, but be quiet in observing—they are quick to throw up claws when disturbed.
This is but one of the many, many varieties of nudibranches you can find at night. This is the whitemarginnudibranch. This one was smaller than the fingernail on my pinky finger.
No discussion of night critters would be complete without a mention of the night octopus. This little fellow was hunting on the reef when I happened upon it. Note the iridescent green on top of the eyes.
Don’t be a worry-wart! Although this bigscalesoldierfish seems to be frowning with worry, he obviously has his eyes out looking for danger. With a little caution and proper gear, you too can enjoy the wonderful world that awaits you when the sun goes down on the reef.
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