Arc-Eye Hawkfish: "pi-li-ko-'a"(paralirrhites arcatus) This little fish's body is oblong in shape and compressed. The head is quite deep with a fairly large mouth and strong jaws. The eyes are small and located high upon the head. Color: The background of the body is a reddish brown, and the entire body is covered by many, small light spots located on the centers of each scale. The posterior half is marked by a longitudinal white stripe along the upper side. The prominent "U" marking behind the eye will always serve to identify it. (See photos)Size: Five to Six inches in length. Habitat: The Arc-Eye Hawkish is sedentary, spending most of its time perched upon a rock or coral head, making quick short dashes for food and returning to a rock or coral head again. Distribution: Hawaii southward to Central Polynesia, westward through Micronesia and Melanesia, through East Indies, Indian Ocean, Africa and the Red Sea.

(Shot taken by Jim Robinson with a Nikon RS with a 50 mm macro lens, using Fuji 100 Provia film an SB104 strob. Camera setting: F8 at 125/TTL, at a depth of 40 feet)

Suck-Em-Up Cavern (north of Honokohou Harbor at 1.7 miles, 8 min.) The Mooring Buoy at "Suck-Em-Up" is located in the Pine Trees Area, between Pine Trees Point and Lone Tree Arch dive sites. This site has a large underwater bridge arch with many crevasses and small valleys. Near one of these many crevasses, there is a large entrance to a lava tube (that gives this site the name Suck-em-up cavern) with a large opening on the southern end and a much smaller opening on the northern end, creating a venturi effect as the surge goes through; the higher the wave height, the greater the venturi effect is. It can be a wild ride. You must time it correctly to make a safe exit on the north end, by making an abrupt left turn. (We do not recommend this dive site to novice divers to swim through without the accompaniment of a Dive Master Guide (a KCD staff member). The ceiling of this lava tube has several small skylights that light your way through the lava tuba. The floor is covered with coral rubble, small boulders and rocks, that have been deposited there from passing storms and wave action over eons of time. From the end of the tunnel heading north, you will come to the entrance of Skull Cave, it appears to be an amphitheater with large benches for the audience in the cave. The front of the cave has two large openings "the eyes" and the support between them is the "nose." The walls sport various growths of algae, yellow-white sponges and the ceiling is covered with Orange Cup Coral. The cave is alive with marine life, from countless Red Big Eyes (Squirrel Fish) and if you look around there may be a Puffer Fish or a large Porcupine Fish hidden in a shadow on the floor of the cave.

Continuing north from Skull Cave, there is a smaller cave that often has a resident white tip shark resting from his night of feeding on small shore line reef fish. The cave will only support two on lookers; we would not like disturbing his rest would we? There are many other interesting marine life forms that can be found inhabiting the coral heads in the surrounding area: large octopus, eels and schools of Goat Fish. As a warning, this dive site can be very dangerous during southerly swells and high surf condition.

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