HAWAIIAN SILVERSIDE · `iao · Atherinomorus insularum (Jordan & Evermann, 1905)
(Note: The photos of this fish in Hawaii's Fishes and the Ultimate Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes incorrectly show Delicate Roundherrings)
     These small fish live in large tide pools, brackish pools, and on shallow protected reef flats. Greenish gray on the back, they have a silvery stripe running the length of the body. They usually swim near the surface in loose groups; Occasionally they form large, dense, fast-moving schools. At night they disperse to feed on plankton at the surface. In ancient Hawai`i these fish were said to be phosphorescent; the face of a human sacrificial victim was sometimes rubbed with them “so that it shone like the eyes of the maneater shark of the deep.” To about 5 in. Endemic (with a sister species, A. lacunosus, elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific). Photo: Leleiwi Beach Park, Hawai`i..