Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 11, 1 November 1993 — Ke ao nani [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Ke ao nani

Naturally Hawaiian

by Patrick Ching artist/environmentalist

Fish that "fly" through water

My earliest recollection of seeing a ray was as a child standing on the rocks at Makapu'u, staring at the oeean in a sort of daze. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something break the water's surface. I turned my head quickly but saw nothing. The next thing I saw was what I thought to be the dorsal fins of two sharks. It wasn't until it practically flew out of the water that I realized what I thought were shark fins were actually just the wing tips of a giant ray. Since that time I've had many pleasant encounters with rays and have acquired a special fondness for these strangely beautiful creatures. There are three families of rays that inhabit 1 Hawaiian waters — sting rays and eagle rays being the smaller types, and mantas being the larger. The sting rays and eagle rays are called hihimanu or lupe in Hawaiian, because of the way they seem to fly through the water like a bird or as a kite flies through the air. The mantas are called hahalua, whieh refers to the two flap-like appendages on

the sides of their mouths. AU Hawaiian rays have certain characteristics in eommon. They all have enlarged pectoral fins, whieh make up the bulk of their bodies. They are all ovoviviparous, whieh means that pregnant females retain their young inside their bodies until they are fully formed. Their skeletons are eomposed of cartilage, not bone, and they are dark colored on top and light colored below. Sting rays, the smallest of the ray families (up to four feet wide) ean be identified by their diamond-shaped bodies with their "wings" extending to the front of their heads.

Eagle rays, on the other hand, have more pointed wings that join the body behind the head. Eagle rays may grow up to seven feet wide and ean easily be identified by the many white spots scattered over the upper surface of their bodies. Both sting rays and eagle rays are bottom feeders. Their meals consist of worms, shellfish, mollusks and occasionally small fish. Stingrays are often found in

shallow waters where they lie half-submerged in the sand, grazing the bottom for food. Both sting rays and eagle rays possess barbed, poisonous stingers on the tails. lf stepped on, they ean inflict a serious and painful wound. The largest of Hawai'i's rays are the mantas. These magnificent creatures may grow to be over 20 feet wide and weigh over 3,000 pounds. Unlike sting rays and eagle rays, mantas have adapted to feeding in the surface waters and many are pelagic (occuring far out at sea). The fleshy appendages on the front of the manta's head are called eeplialie fins. These fins aid in directing food into the ray's mouth. Rays exist throughout the oceans of the world. Many oeeanie cultures use the meat of the rays for food, the skins for drums, and the tails and the stingers for whips and weapons. Undoubtedly, the Hawaiians found many uses for these strange creatures as well.

A school of hihimanu, or spotted eagle rays. Art by Patrick Ching