no yellow tangs in Kauai??
 

Went all around the waters of Kauai last week and noticed I didn't see one Yellow Tang? I know there are caught and shipped from the Big Island and have seen them in Maui, but I thought they flourished all over Hawaii?

Was this odd?

ps. probably why all the turtles I saw were not groomed!

Think I saw only 2 or 3 the whole time I was there in March. I think there are some regional differences in populations, I remember there being a few in Maui and I've heard that the Big Island has many more .. did see lots of other fish species though that I never saw on the other islands (Potter's angels, Flame angels being 2 notables, also other species of tang such as convicts, lavenders, ringtail surgeonfish).

That said I also think that over collection is stressing the fish populations quite severely overall. I have no idea how much wholesale collection happens out of Kauai.

Convict Tangs seemed to rule the Island.

In Kona on the Big Island the waters are literally yellow sometimes. Diving in Maui i saw quite a lot but not near the amount that the Big Island had. I know between The Big Island and Maui there is a very strong current channel running between the islands. Maybe Kauai has a similar channel between Maui that kinda isolated the islands. just a thought.

here's an interesting acticle;

http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/dar/coral/pdf...YellowTang.pdf

LOL .. yes, yes they do. :lol:

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...0/IMG_0470.jpg

Thanks for that.

On another note (Article made me think about it).

If you are ever in Kona, look up Jacks Dive Locker and do there Pelagic Magic Dive. Its an open water night dive, about 3 Miles offshore, in about 3000 feet of water. You will see thing you never saw before. All the larval stages of many fish an inverts. Sry for the off topic, but that article mentioned larval tangs, and made think of that amazing dive.

I just did three dives in Hawaii in April. Two dives in Oahu and one in Maui. I did notice that there were no yellow tangs to be seen anywhere. My gf did say she saw a couple in Maui off of the beach while snorkelling but that was it.