If a science-fiction writer invented a fish with a horse head, monkey tail and kangaroo pouch, made the males get pregnant and called the thing a sea monster ("campus" in Greek), well, it would be easier to believe in dragons.
But the description is no fantasy fish. It’s a sea horse, of course, the fish with body features and lifestyles so weird it’s hard to believe they’re real.
The fact that sea horses are nearly impossible to find doesn’t help their credibility, either. I can’t count the hours I’ve spent poking around sea grass beds, scanning seaweed stems and inspecting coral branches looking for one. Not a single horse ever showed up.
But then last week, when I was not looking at all, a sea horse fulfilled my quest beyond my dreams. A big, fat one swam right past my face.
The miracle occurred in about six feet of water on a blustery day off a North Shore beach. The water was murky and the current strong, but being sweaty from a hike, I grabbed my mask and snorkel and plunged in to cool off.
I was focusing on dodging scratchy seaweed when my eyes nearly popped out of my head. Attached by the tail to a clump of seaweed broken loose in the surge was a 6-inch-long sea horse. Its skin matched the area’s brown silt and algae so well, I would never have spotted it on the bottom.
As I watched, the sea horse let go of its mobile home, swam to the ocean floor and wrapped its monkey tail around a seaweed sprout. The weight of the fish on the small plant tipped both the sprout and the sea horse on their sides in the sand.
Looking for a more secure address, the sea horse — its belly so big it looked like the fish had swallowed a grape — moved to a chunk of coraline algae. The sea horse’s tail reached only halfway around the pink rock.
And there we were, a pregnant male sea horse hanging on for dear life, and me coughing and spitting out water that the waves were dumping down my snorkel. I didn’t care. My sea horse had finally appeared.
Hawaii hosts two species of these incredible fish: the offshore Fisher’s sea horse, about 3 inches long, and the inshore thorny sea horse (mine), 6 to 8 inches long.
As far anyone knows, sea horses have always been scarce in Hawaii, but when conditions are right, the fish go from extremely rare to moderately rare.
They might be experiencing such a bloom now. My neighbor found a dead but intact Fisher’s sea horse on Lanikai Beach a few months ago. Recently she spotted two live sea horses while snorkeling in that area. My husband’s colleague told him he’s been seeing sea horses off Kailua this summer. And now there’s my encounter on the North Shore.
If you find a live sea horse, resist the temptation to take it home. We can help these extraordinary fish, vulnerable to overfishing and habitat destruction, by leaving them alone.
I watched my sea horse until I was half drowned, then began building an underwater cairn so I could find the fish after I fetched my camera. But before I finished my rock pile, my sea horse lost his grip and was gone.
I’ve looked for sea horses without success for so many years I had almost come to think they didn’t exist in the wild anymore. Now I’m a believer.
———
Reach Susan Scott at www.susanscott.net.
