354 NATURAL HISTORY OF HAWAII. 



Bone-Fish, Catalufas and Cirrhitid.e. 



The bone-fish, or lady-fish," have a single representative in Hawaii known 

 as the oio.^ It is a silvery fish with soft flesh that resembles the milk-fish in 

 some respects, but is distinguished by its swine-like snout. 



The Catalufas ■' are represented by but a single genus of three species. 

 One of these, the aweoweo,"' is the famous "red fish" which duriii^i' the month 

 of September, 1873, entered Honolulu harbor in shoals. They were evidently 

 young fish, as the largest were not more than three and a half inches long. 

 This shoaling has occurred from time to time at irregular intervals. In the 

 mind of the native the coming of the red fish presages the sickness and death 

 of some member of the royal family. On several occasions there has been a 

 singular sequence of events of this Jiature which has left its impress on the 

 beliefs of the more superstitious among the people. The fish are esteemed as food 

 by the natives, however, who regard their coming in large numbers in the 

 nature of a windfall, as the fish can be readily dried and saved. The species 

 is of wide distribution and among English-speaking people is known as the 

 "big eye." 



The family Cirrliiticke includes among its numlier seven of the more beau- 

 tiful and highly-colored fishes of the coral reef, and as they are almost con- 

 stantl}" to be seen in the mai-ket and at the Aquarium, the pilikoa,^^ hilu {uli- 

 koa ^- and piliko 'a^-' are well known, though they are seldom more than six 

 inches in length. 



'!^^ ■ 



Deep-Sea Fishes. 



The fishes of the deep sea are for the most part examples of the familiar 

 forms that have become modified and specialized to suit the peculiar environ- 

 ment of great pressure, inky blackness and freezing cold which the bottom of 

 the sea affords. Eels, soles, scorpion fish, box fish and dozens of other forms 

 found commonly on our shores have their deep-sea representatives that are 

 seldom seen by other than experts to whom are sent the rare examples, 

 secured at great cost and labor by sei<Mitific deep-sea expeditions. We there- 

 fore content ourselves with the knowledge that they exist and confine our at- 

 tention to the more common, if not the more interesting, species that are met 

 with in the markets almost daily. 



The Dolphin. 



The doI})hin 1^ (mahihi) is <in important food fish in Hawtiii. The body is 

 elongate, compressed and covered with very fine scales. The under jaw pro- 

 trudes and the long low dorsal fin extends from the nape to the base of the 

 tail. It is changeable in color and thus becomes a conspicuous fish either 

 living or dead, but unfortunately its beautiful color rapidly changes after 

 death. They attain the length of four to six feet. 



'' Alhtdido;. ^ Alhula wipes. ^ Priaranthuliv. ^" Princnnfhii/i mi<>nfntii>,. 



^''- Paracirrhites spp. ^- P. fostiTi. '■'/'. nrcatits. ^* CanjiilKviin liiii/mnix. 



