FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 72, NO. 4 



The widespread occurrence of this fish probably 

 relates to the fact that no single item, or certain 

 few items, especially predominate in its diet. This 

 is true to an even greater degree in the ubiquitous 

 Thalassoma duperrey, above, but is unlike most 

 fishes on Kona reefs. 



All five specimens (90: 76-102 mm) collected 

 during daylight had a gut full of material, some of 

 it fresh, as listed in Table 55. The major food 

 items — small crustaceans shorter than about 4 

 mm — were mostly intact. Larger items, such as 

 some of the gastropods, were crushed. 



CONCLUSION. — Halichoeres ornatissimus is a 

 diurnal predator that picks a wide variety of small 

 benthic animals from the sea floor. 



COnCUJSlO^. —Stethojulis balteata is a diur- 

 nal predator that mostly picks small crustaceans 

 and gastropods off the sea floor. 



Stethojulis balteata (Quoy and Gaimard) — 

 'omaka 



This wrasse is most numerous on the shallow 

 reef flats and on some of the reefs richly overgrown 

 with corals. During the day it swims close to rocks 

 or coral, at which it periodically picks. At night it 

 rests in reef crevices, or buried in the sand. 



Anavipses cuvier Quoy and Gaimard — 'opule 



Although this wrasse occupies all inshore reef 

 habitats in Kona, it is most numerous where the 

 sea floor consists of basalt boulders. During the 

 day, solitary individuals swim close to the sub- 

 stratum, where they inspect the surface, and fre- 

 quently pluck at the low growth of algae on the 



992 



