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BLUELINE TRIGGERFISH
Xanthichthys caeruleolineatus Randall, Matsuura & Zama,
1978
This month's fish is super rare. It
was not even recorded from Hawai`i until 1993 when a fisherman caught
one on hook and line at about 300 ft. Recognizing it as unusual,
he gave it to the Bishop Museum. Subsequent records have been made
from similar depths, including one by deep diver Richard Pyle using
a rebreather off the Kona coast of the Big Island. In 1997 Mike
Severns photographed a pair at 150 ft. off Molokini Islet, Maui,
establishing that the species does enter extreme scuba depths upon
occasion. On August 26, 2005 the great folks at Mike
Severns Diving took me to the same spot at Molokini. I didn't
really expect to find any, but a nice pair of Bluelines appeared
right on cue at about 145 ft. Amazing. Fish live a long time and
they could well be the same ones that Mike originally photographed
8 years ago. I pursued the closest one, blazing away as I swam.
It stopped and hovered outside a crevice just long enough for me
to get a shot, then it disappeared inside.
Males and females have the same color
pattern: upper sides yellowish tan and lower sides light gray, the
two colors separated by an irregular thin electric blue line running
from the pectoral fin to the tail fin. The diagonal grooves and
the cheek are blue. An orange bar edged in blue runs from behind
the eye to the base of the pectoral fin. The tail fin is mostly
white with a black trailing edge and red side margins. The Blueline
Triggerfish is somewhat larger than the others of its genus, attaining
about 13 in. It is known primarily from isolated oceanic islands
in the Indo-Pacific and Eastern Pacific. The main population is
believed to live below 250 ft. Photo: Molokini Islet, Maui. 145
ft.
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