Last week I asked what these fish have in common manta rays.
The fish are Akule.
"Akule or big-eye scad is a tropical fish that is found in huge schools either inshore or in the open ocean around the world. It is the most popular reef fish in Hawaii, and is often used as live bait to catch larger fish such as marlin and ahi tuna."
"Akule are bluish to greenish silver on the upper third of their body, fading to white on the lower two-thirds. The fish resembles a mackerel with a long and slender body, but earns its “big-eye” status from enormous eyes. It is a relatively small fish, growing to about a foot long (30 cm). It has a sweet, oily flavor similar to mackerel and is great for grilling."
So what do they have in common with manta rays?
They eat plankton.
Here is a movie I made on a night snorkel in Hawaii:
We went to see Manta Rays, and we did see some at a distance but they did not come close enough for me to get pictures or videos. Maybe there wasn't enough plankton, yes Manta Rays eat plankton, maybe there were too many people, who knows.
The Akule were plentiful and swam very close to us to eat the plankton attracted by the night snorkel lights. We were on a catamaran (http://www.kamanu.com/), and in about 40 feet of water hanging on to a floating light board.
So as the sun wet down, we put on our wetsuits, the crew put the light boards (video below) in the water and we jumped in, me with my camera.
Manta Rays are gentle giants, they are triangular in shape and can be 18 to 20 feet across. They do not have stingers and they eat plankton, and lots of it, so they are often attracted to the lights because the light draws plankton.
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Here is a video from Liquid Hawaiian Carters of Manta Rays.
That answers the second question.
The third question was about where you could find 11 of the worlds climatic regions in one island?
The Big Island of Hawaii is the answer.
``There are 13 climate zones on Earth. The Big Island has all of them except the Arctic and Saharan. Pressure variations, rainfall, wind, elevation and topography combine to create distinct variations across the island. Some of the climates you may encounter in Hawaii are humid tropical zones, arid and semi-arid zones, temperate zones, and alpine zones.To fully appreciate this you must experience it. Within one day on the Big Island, you can travel through rainforests, snow covered mountain tops, deserts and beaches.``
Hope you have enjoyed my questions today.
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As a bonus, here is another video I took, this one is of a Sonoran Carpenter Bee:
``Xylocopa sonorina, commonly known as the Sonoran carpenter bee, is a carpenter bee found in the eastern Pacific islands. Males are golden brown and lack stingers; females are black and larger than the males and considered shy.``
Wikipedia
The ``carpenter`` part of the name is because the females tunnel into wood to lay their eggs.
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That`s all I have for you today, thanks for dropping by.
Happy Wednesday, with whimsy,
Gillian
Wikipedia
The ``carpenter`` part of the name is because the females tunnel into wood to lay their eggs.
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That`s all I have for you today, thanks for dropping by.
Happy Wednesday, with whimsy,
Gillian
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