CROWN OF THORNS

Aloha! We have had a very nice day here in paradise. It has rained enough to keep me from mowing the lawn but not so much that anyones day at the beach would be ruined. It would rain for 5 or 10 minutes then the sun would shine for an hour or so and then it would rain again. It has kept this pattern up all day so we have spent most of the day sitting on the lanai with coffee cup in hand watching the grass grow! We did get to the store this morning and made a stop at the post office...even found the time to visit the bank. Don't know how we find the time in our busy schedule for all of this but Jackie manages somehow. We are having tacos for dinner and maybe a few games of skip-bo after I have given up on beating her at dominos and I'm hoping to have better luck at cards. The first two pictures are of a crown of thorns starfish. It was taken at Tunnels Beach. These guys are pretty nasty and they can give you a very nasty sting if you step on them. They are also very damaging to the reef and have been the cause of a lot of damage in Australia. As you can tell from the photos they can move pretty well even though they look very much like a plant. The next photo is of an hawaiian hog fish. It was taken at Anini. These fish normally like the deeper water and prefer the northwestern chain. They are rarely seen on Oahu but will visit Kauai as they like the cooler water. Think this one is a subadult female. The last photo is of a blackstripe coris. This fish is only seen in Hawaii and normally only in the northwestern chain. This is a mature female and our book says mature females are uncommon and rarely encountered.