invertebrates

phylum Echinodermata

• rock-boring sea urchin (Echinometra mathaei)

• oblong sea urchin (Echinometra oblonga)

• banded sea urchin (Echinothrix calamaris)

• red slate pencil urchin (Heterocentrotus mamillatus)

• white-spotted sea cucumber (Actinopyga varians)

• black sea cucumber (Holothuria atra)

• ashy sea cucumber (Holothuria cinerascens)*

• edible sea cucumber (Holothuria edulis)

• stubborn sea cucumber (Holothuria pervicax)

phylum Cnidaria

• cauliflower corals (Pocillopora spp.)

phylum Arthropoda

• left-handed hermit crab (Calcinus laevimanus)

• painted hermit crab (Calcinus pictus)

• Seurat's hermit crab (Calcinus seurati)*

• thin-shelled rock crab (Grapsus tenuicrustatus)

• pebble crab (Leptodius sanguineus)*

• common hairy crab (Pilumnus vespertilio)

• banded coral shrimp (Stenopus hispidus)*

phylum Mollusca

• black-foot ʻopihi (Cellana exarata)*

• Hawaiian snakehead cowry (Cypraea caputophidii)*

• black nerite (Nerita picea)

• Hawaiian turban (Turbo sandwicensis)*

• brown purse shell (Isognomon perna) - shell*

fish

• Indo-Pacific sergeant (Abudefduf vaigiensis)

• tide pool gobies (Bathygobius spp.)

• Hawaiian flagtail (Kuhlia xenura)*

• reef triggerfish (Rhinecanthus rectangulus)

• wrasse (Thalassoma sp.)

• moorish idol (Zanclus cornutus)

* = first identified species encounter

Today was my first time back to Hawaiian tide pools since November last year! I saw a banded urchin, THREE red slate pencil urchins, a banded coral shrimp, and, somehow, my first ever identified limpet (ʻopihi) in Hawaiʻi!