Humuhumu fish necklace

[billie_morini]

For all you surfers that have never had the good fortune to live, work, or visit the paradise of Hawaii, here's a teeny glimpse of something you may be unaware of. The Hawaii state fish is the Humuhumu. They are beautifully colored and very sleek. Specifically, they are a trigger fish and their full name is humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa. Below is a photo of the actual fish (photo credit: Dwijnker). You will not forget theses fish if you see them firsthand. Also below, you will see a photo of the Humuhumu fish necklace I bought for several of my younger female cousins.

Wikipedia says this about the humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa:
This "triggerfish's teeth and top lip are blue and the teeth are set close together inside its relatively chubby mouth. It has a small second spine, which it can use to lock its main spine into an upright position. The triggerfish can wedge itself into small crevices and lock its spine to make it extremely difficult to get out. In addition, when fleeing from predators, the triggerfish will sometimes make grunting noises, possibly a call to warn other nearby triggerfish of danger. One particularly interesting aspect of the fish's behavior is the ability to blow jets of water from its mouth. These jets help the fish find benthic invertebrates that may be buried under the substrate. Triggerfish can often be seen spitting sand from their mouths in order to sift through the material in search of edible detritus or organisms. Reef triggers are fairly aggressive and will generally not tolerate conspecific individuals in their general vicinity; thus the fish is often found solitary. This is particularly true in captivity. Triggers have the remarkable ability to rapidly alter their coloration. They can fade into a relatively drab appearance when sleeping or demonstrating submission, while their coloration is often the most vivid when the fish are healthy and unthreatened by their surroundings."

[billie_morini]

The state fish of California, like Hawaii's state fish, is a salt water fish. These large, beautiful fish are called Garibaldi (Hypsypops rubicundus). I've seen them in the deep, clear coves on the east side of the Channel Islands located in the Santa Barbara Channel. These fish are not shy and it is easy to see them hunting for invertebrates hiding in the rocks. They are simply stunning.

Photo Credit: S. Sheps

[saltydog]

I never knew it was the state fish of CA. Coincidentally, it is the color of california poppies(Eschscholzia californica), the state flower of CA, as you've probably noticed. Very cool

[billie_morini]

salty,
technically, the Garibaldi is the official marine state fish of California. I think some kind of trout is the freshwater state fish. And, yes, I agree with you. The California state flower is an orange poppy. Great to see you identified them by their scientific name. It seems like the forum's intelligence quotient has increased during July,

More about the poppies:
1. The early Spanish that came to California saw the poppies covering vast hillsides and referred to it as “Tierra Del Fuego." This means "land of fire."
2. soil nutrients are responsible for the rich color. Sometimes, they are yellow, pink, white, or violet depending on the soil nutrients present
3. When courting my wife nearly 30 years ago, I gave hundreds of orange poppies to her. This made a positive impression.

[oldmansurfer]

Humuhumus taste pretty decent if you can skin them. Their skin is thick and leathery and many guys use a pair of plyers to pull the skin off. Blue teeth? I don't remember that ...could be.