356 Hawaiian Fishes 



The translation of this Hawaiian name is interesting. Humu-humu 

 means a needle and refers to the spine or trigger and also to the entire 

 group of trigger fishes. Nuku-nuku is variously translated as snout or 

 grunt and puaa means pig. So the name comes to mean the trigger fish 

 with the snout of a pig or the grunt of a pig. This fish is one of the 

 most common trigger fishes in the Hawaiian Islands. 



This species is distributed from the Red Sea, Zanzibar, Mozambique, 

 and India through the East Indies, along China, and through Japan, 

 Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia as far as the Hawaiian Islands. 



Trigger Fish 



128-11 Balis tapus nndulatus (Mungo Park) 

 The body of this fish is dusky in color and is marked by a great many 

 oblique lines. The fins are light in color at their edges but become darker 

 at their bases. A dusky spot marks the base of the tail. This fish reaches 

 a length of ten inches. It is common through Polynesia as far as Japan. 

 This species is distributed from the Red Sea, Zanzibar, and Mozambique 

 through the East Indies, the Philippine Islands, along China, through 

 Japan, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia as far as the Hawaiian Islands. 



Humu-humu Ele-ele 



■ 128-12 Melichthys huniva (Lacepede) 



Plate VIII, Figure 8 



Drawn from Jordan & Evermonn 



This trigger fish is a dark greenish-bluish color in life and turns black 

 when it is dead. It is conspicuously marked by a light blue line along 



