Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 4, 1 April 1990 — Naturally Hawaiian [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Naturally Hawaiian

By Patrick Ching artist/environmentalist

Little creatures

When I was a kid growing up, one of the first things my father taught me about fishing was how to catch 'opae (shrimp) for bait. In time I became so good at catching 'opae while he fished that soon I was catching 'opae almost as big as some of his fish.

In those days all my friends knew about 'opae and how to catch them. Nowadays it seems that things like video games and "Mutant Ninja Turtles" have preoccupied the minds of our youth and the little things that captured my interest as a child, like tiny 'opae, have been pushed aside like the streams that they lived in. Most of the streams in Hawai'i that flow to the oeean have been altered to accomodate irrigation, development, or other forms of land use. For many native stream animals, including the 'opae, streams that have been altered or cemented are no longer suitable to live in. In Hawaiian, 'opae is a general namefor shrimp. Among the 'opae found inland are the 'opae 'ula (red shrimp), the 'opae lolo (crazy shrimp), found

in brackish water and estuaries, and the 'opae 'oe ha'a (crooked walking shrimp), a native prawn with one large elaw more eommon in middle and lower streams, and the 'opae kala 'ole (spinless shrimp) and the. 'opae kuahiwi (mountain shrimp) or 'opae kolo (crawling shrimp); these are most abundant in the upper mountain streams. As with all native Hawaiian stream animals, the eggs of the dwelling 'opae are hatched and swept out to sea where they spend their larval stage as part of the oeeanie zooplankton community. Onee they reach the post-larval stage they are able to crawl upstream where they will eventually spawn and repeat the cycle. In old Hawai'i it was usually the job of the women to catch 'opae using nets constructed largely of stripped and woven 'ie'ie bark. The 'opae were prepared in a variety of ways; they were boiled, broiled, dried or eaten raw. Sometimes even live! Unlikely as it may seem, the 'opae was the 'aumakua or family guardian of some Hawaiians. Obviously these people did not judge the tiny creatures by their size alone. The next time you're near a Hawaiian stream or pond, take a close look inside. Perhaps you'll discover how significant the little things in life really are.