Acanthurus triostegus sandvicensis — Randall 
REWARD ! 
IF A MANINI IS CAUGHT WHICH IS 
TAGGED AS SHOWN IN THE ABOVE 
DRAWING, PLEASE CONTACT FISH 8 
GAME WARDEN OR BRING THE FISH 
TO THE DIVISION OF FISH 8 GAME 
(PHONE 92071). ONE DOLLAR ( 8 1.00) 
REWARD WILL BE GIVEN. 
Fig. 21. Poster used to publicize tagging of Acan- 
thurus triostegus sandvicensis on Oahu. 
distributed by game wardens. Carl M. Nemoto, 
then working for the Division of Fish and Game, 
tagged a total of 1,157 manini, 70 to 152 mm. 
in standard length, from July 6 to November 
23 , 1954. Forty-five additional fish were tagged 
on May 4 and June 6, 1955. The tagging was 
carried out from Kaolulo’s vessel between Ke- 
walo Basin and Koko Head, Oahu. The manini 
were caught in traps, tagged, measured, and re- 
leased at the place of capture, which was re- 
corded. 
Due to the difficulty of using a flame when 
tagging from a vessel exposed to the strong 
winds of the Kaiwi Channel (Molokai Chan- 
nel), Nemoto decided to tag most of the fish 
by crimping brass leader sleeve on one end of 
the nylon (the other end was melted into a 
knob prior to the departure of the vessel ) . This 
method was devised by Kenji Ego of the Divi- 
sion of Fish and Game. 
Of the total of 1,247 manini tagged with disk 
tags, there have been 281 recoveries. Of the 
recovered fish, 173 have been returned alive, pro- 
257 
viding the opportunity for re-release. Twenty- 
four of these have been caught again, and 3 have 
been taken a third time (these recoveries are 
included in the 281 mentioned above). 
The following table shows the lapse of time 
by 2 -week periods between the release and re- 
covery of tagged manini. 
The fish with the longest recovery time was 
tagged on September 21, 1954, and recovered 
on July 29, 1955. 
The explanation of the large number of ma- 
nini recovered in the first few weeks following 
release and the sharp drop in returns thereafter 
probably involves a number of factors, such as 
mortality, loss of tags, and movement from the 
immediate area of release. 
It is known that at least some loss of tags has 
occurred, for manini with the tagging wound 
but without tags have been noticed by fisher- 
men. Since no fish have been seen with a tag 
in the process of moving up through the back 
and dorsal fin, it is assumed that most of the 
early losses, at least, occurred from a dropping 
off of a disk because of the knob being too small 
or the brass inadequately crimped. Analysis of 
the returned tags indicated that the knobs were 
too small in many cases. When the diameter 
of the hole in the disk is 1 mm., the knob should 
measure at least 2 mm. 
TABLE 10 
Recovery Time of Tagged Adults of 
Acanthurus triostegus sandvicensis 
WEEKS FOLLOWING 
RELEASE OF FISH 
NO. OF FISH 
RECOVERED 
2 
96 
4 
57 
6 
42 
8 
25 
10 
17 
12 
9 
14 
6 
16 
5 
18 
4 
20 
4 
22 
3 
24 
5 
26 
2 
28 
2 
30 
2 
34 
1 
40 
1 
