THE AXLMAL LIFE OF THE GROUP. 353 



The family of l)arraeudas •' has two h»cal forms, one of which, tlie kaweh'a* 

 is not uncommon, as it frequents the mullet ponds along' the shore. They seldom 

 attain a length of more than twenty-four inches, and are therefore but feeble 

 representatives of the great barracuda, that excellent food fish along the Cali- 

 fornia coast, which is often five feet or more in length. Our local form i.s 

 voracious and destructive to mullet, and do much damage to seines with their 

 strong teeth which are set in a large mouth — two characteristics that are 

 useful to the novice in separating them from the more valuable mullet with 

 Avhich they frequently occur. 



Butterfly-Fish. 



No one who has visited the Aquarium will need to be reminded that 

 Hawaii can boast of a long list of beautiful creatures that might well be called 

 the butterflies of the coral reefs. 



Their compressed bodies, small size, continuous dorsal fins, small mouths, 

 and bi'illiant. varied and beautiful colors are characteristics sufficient to 

 distinguish them at once from their near relatives under a family name, 

 ChcEtodontidce, which has reference to their distinctly brush-like teeth. The 

 five genera found in Hawaii embrace at present about eighteen species that, 

 owing to graceful form, bright colors and great activity, make them exceed- 

 ingly popular as aquarium specimens. Their great quickness and agility 

 enable them to maintain themselves in the struggle for existence in the close 

 competition of the coral reef, in spite of their conspicuous habits and color- 

 ing. In the typical genus ^ a black band usually crosses through the eye ; 

 kikakapu is the native name applied to several well-marked species which 

 vary so widely in their colors as to defy brief description. 



Blennies. 



Representatives of the family known as Blennies *'• are certain to be noticed 

 by the most casual observer strolling along the beach. The little fish most 

 commonly seen clinging to the coral rocks as the waves recede is one or another of 

 the nine or ten species of this family. They are active and alert, and since 

 there are in the world more than five hundred species, many of Avhich never 

 attain a length of two inches, it is not strange that the naturalist seldom 

 ventui'es to name, off-hand, the various examples that so often form the sum 

 total of the catch secured by a w^ading party. How'ever, it nuiy be wi'll to 

 know that Enupapferiigius atriceps is the only name given the little fish with 

 the large eyes, three dorsal fins and the whip-like piM^torals that is coiniiion in 

 the coral rocks about Honolulu. 



The Hawaiians did not distinguish it as sepai-ate fi'om its relatives. Of its 

 next of kin two or three species of the genus Alficiis are also ([uito ronuuon 

 about the islands; they have two dorsal fins. The small dark olive Salaris 

 zebra is the most abundant species. It has the l)ody crossed by inuuerous 

 alternating pale and dark-olive ])aiuls, and Iuts a curious lash above the eye. 



'■^ Sjiliiiririiidir. * J'rncliinocephdlus myops. ^ Chmtodon. " lileiiniidce. 



