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Meet Our Hawaiian Ambassador

Our official Hawaiian ambassador is actually a fish. It makes sense, the Hawaiian Islands are rooted deep in culture surrounded my water. Its name is, “Humuhumu nukunukuapuaa” and it’s the Reef Triggerfish.


Its name breaks down in the Hawaiian language to, triggerfish with a nose like a pig. It is a pugnacious little guy that actually does have a snout/nose that appears pig-like, with blue lipstick on. He is the Hawaiian Islands official state fish. When you see one it appears that someone had a bunch of left over patchwork and just stitched him together using what they had left, unique looking to say the least.


They have a “trigger” on the top of their bodies that they can control and lift up and down on their whim. They use this as an anchor to wedge themselves into crevasses when they are being pursued. If the hole isn’t big enough for their entire bodies and the tail happens to be sticking out, that’s ok because they have bony tooth-like protrusions that stick up from their tails and will ward off predators with a bite full of spikes. Mother nature did a great job here!



Come sail with us at Kainani Sails on a private custom charter where we take you on a Maui snorkel tour and our in-water naturalist will do their best to point out our official Hawaiian Ambassador. I’ll let you say the name!




Maui snorkeling
Swimming with Maui's Fish!

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