humu­humu­nuku­nuku­āpua'a

My post this week is about the humu­humu­nuku­nuku­āpua'a. I hear about this fish all of the time and never have seen it up close and personal. After all, it is our state fish. . .So, I'm curious about. . .What type of fish is it? What does it eat? Where is it found?

This little fish has such a long name, that I shall refer to it as humuhumu.

The humuhumunukunukuapua’a is a reef, rectangualr, or wedge-tail triggerfish. It is also called a Picasso triggerfish. The Hawaiian name humuhumunukunukuapua’a, means “triggerfish with a snout like a pig”.

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Tetraodontiformes
Family: Balistidae
Genus: Rhinecanthus
Species: R. rectangulus

Binomial name
Rhinecanthus rectangulusBloch & Schneider, 1801

The humuhumu's teeth are set close together inside its relatively small mouth, and it has a small second spine, which it can use to lock its first spine into an upright position. The triggerfish will wedge itself into small crevices and lock their spine to make it almost impossible to get them out. In addition, when fleeing predators, the triggerfish will sometimes make grunting noises, possibly to warn other nearby triggerfish of danger at hand. They hide in crevasses

They feed on alge and also mollusks and crabs.
The humuhumu are found in the salt water coasts of the indo-Pacific ocean. They are found promenently in the coral reefs in the Hawaiian Islands.

In 1990, the humuhumu’s time as the Hawaii state fish finished due to the expiration of a Hawaii state law. Then in 2006, a bill was passed that reinstated the humuhumu as our state fish once again!

Humuhumunukunukuapua’a is such a long name for a fish, but not the longest.
The longest fish name in Hawaiian is that of the butterflyfish (Forcipiger longirostris). Its name is lauwiliwilinukunuku’oi’oi meaning “long-snouted fish shaped like a wiliwili leaf".