Richardson Ocean Beach Park offered best snorkeling in Hilo

The reef triggerfish is the state fish of Hawaii and known here as humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa; the song My Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua, Hawaii includes the line . . .where the humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa go swimming by . . .

I must have taken 50+ photos of the juvenile rockmover wrasse since I was so intrigued by this unique fish; we loved Richardson Ocean Park so much that we visited both days we were in Hilo

Richardson Ocean Park is one of the few places with good snorkeling on the east side of the island; Jennifer Doudna, 2020 Nobel prize winner for her pioneering work in CRISPR gene editing, grew up in Hilo

Redfin butterflyfish; Hilo is one of the wettest cities in the world with 127 inches of rain annually; the city has a record low temperature of 53 degrees and a record high of 94 degrees

The saddle wrasse was one of the most common fish we saw but constantly moving and difficult to photograph; there are 43 different wrasse species reported in Hawaii with 13 of them (including the saddle wrasse) endemic to Hawaii

The saffron finch, native to South America, was introduced into Hawaii in 1965 and has become a common sight on the Big Island

The rockmover wrasse moves rocks with his snout looking for food underneath; there were spearfishermen here specifically getting orangespine unicornfish, presumably to eat

Yellowtoris coris (very common in Hawaii); Hilo is home to the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corporation, one of the world's leading producers of macadamia nuts

Pacific sailfin tang; I was surprised the coral and underwater topography was in such good condition here given the large crowds and relatively shallow depths (there were lifeguards to help keep people from standing on the coral)

Belted wrasse; Hilo lies at the base of two shield volcanoes, Mauna Loa (active) and Mauna Kea (dormant); Mauna Kea is the site of some of the world's most important ground-based astronomical observatories

Female spotted boxfish; Hilo is the largest city on the Big Island but only has about 45,000 residents; much of Hilo is at risk from lava flows from Mauna Loa while the bayfront has twice been destroyed by tsunamis

Hawaiian Tripletail Wrasse; Hilo International Airport has service from Hawaiian, United and Southwest Airlines; Hilo is the oldest city in Hawaii and started out as a center of sugar cane production

I'd never seen a juvenile rockmover wrasse before and had no idea what it was as I was snorkeling; I've seen the adults but not a juvenile which looks completely different

The teardrop butterflyfish was not a species I observed often in Hawaii which is the easternmost point in their range; like most butterflyfish, they are monogamous and are typically spotted in pairs