2024.09.16
A sea fan was found close to the stairs from the break wall into the ocean outside Kawaihae Harbor. It lay in the sand about 6-7ft underwater. Other than a thin covering of algae, the sea fan was not damaged. I did not know then that sea fans are not found in Hawaii. I had hoped the coral was still alive and needed to be transferred to a safe place inside the harbor. I found later that this is a skeleton with small seaweed growth sprouting on it.
How does a fan coral make its way to Hawaii without much damage? There is also a slight possibility that sea fans like the Genus Annella, which occurs in the Indo-Pacific, grow here in Hawaii and are not observed or recorded by the iNaturalist community for one. This one made its way onto the shallow at Kawaihae somehow.
Could this specimen remain intact as currents carried it from somewhere in the Pacific? Another real possibility is that it arrived in the region via anthropogenic means—someone brought it from somewhere and tossed it in the water.
However it arrived, its remains are now in the Kawaihae harbor. We can all hope that it comes back to life.
