far below Hawaii’s green mountain peaks
the sandy beaches lined with hotels and
condominiums there’s another Hawaii
a string of spectacular undersea
volcanoes created the islands and
continued to add to their landmass even
today
Hawaii is geologically young but it is
surrounded by an ancient ocean filled
with creatures whose ancestors preceded
human beings by millions of years
jellyfish were around half a billion
years ago sharks had a history going
back more than 300 million years about
40 kinds of sharks live in the waters
around Hawaii including whale sharks the
largest fish in the sea
native hawaiians reverently referred to
tiger sharks as omec ooha or ancestor
spirits to albatross chicks they are
trouble but whatever they’re called
tiger sharks are magnificent apex
predators just below human beings is top
ocean carnivores they are among more
than 1000 kinds of Native Hawaiian fish
such as the moorish idol and mahi-mahi
others such as the beautiful little
bandit angelfish and the hawaiian
lionfish are like nearly 12% of all the
species of fish in Hawaii they lived
there and only there in part because of
the great isolation of the islands
about 1,200 monk seals named the state
mammal of Hawaii in 2008 maintain a
fragile hold on life in a few places in
the northwestern Hawaiian Islands a few
ventures some individuals occasionally
turn up on the beaches of Oahu where
other mammals primarily primates have
become established once abundant monk
seals were almost eliminated in the
1800’s for their fur and meat the few
that remain now are legally protected
but their survival is threatened by
entanglement and fisherman’s discarded
nets
much of Hawaii’s natural endowment of
underwater life has been depleted over
the ages especially by overfishing in
the 20th century but things are changing
on land and in the sea areas are being
protected because people do not want to
lose more of Hawaii’s amazing natural
assets new exploration of deep water
areas with submarines and deep cameras
is providing new insight into the nature
of the other Hawaii the one that starts
with a sparkling surface of the ocean it
goes down
you
the sandy beaches lined with hotels and
condominiums there’s another Hawaii
a string of spectacular undersea
volcanoes created the islands and
continued to add to their landmass even
today
Hawaii is geologically young but it is
surrounded by an ancient ocean filled
with creatures whose ancestors preceded
human beings by millions of years
jellyfish were around half a billion
years ago sharks had a history going
back more than 300 million years about
40 kinds of sharks live in the waters
around Hawaii including whale sharks the
largest fish in the sea
native hawaiians reverently referred to
tiger sharks as omec ooha or ancestor
spirits to albatross chicks they are
trouble but whatever they’re called
tiger sharks are magnificent apex
predators just below human beings is top
ocean carnivores they are among more
than 1000 kinds of Native Hawaiian fish
such as the moorish idol and mahi-mahi
others such as the beautiful little
bandit angelfish and the hawaiian
lionfish are like nearly 12% of all the
species of fish in Hawaii they lived
there and only there in part because of
the great isolation of the islands
about 1,200 monk seals named the state
mammal of Hawaii in 2008 maintain a
fragile hold on life in a few places in
the northwestern Hawaiian Islands a few
ventures some individuals occasionally
turn up on the beaches of Oahu where
other mammals primarily primates have
become established once abundant monk
seals were almost eliminated in the
1800’s for their fur and meat the few
that remain now are legally protected
but their survival is threatened by
entanglement and fisherman’s discarded
nets
much of Hawaii’s natural endowment of
underwater life has been depleted over
the ages especially by overfishing in
the 20th century but things are changing
on land and in the sea areas are being
protected because people do not want to
lose more of Hawaii’s amazing natural
assets new exploration of deep water
areas with submarines and deep cameras
is providing new insight into the nature
of the other Hawaii the one that starts
with a sparkling surface of the ocean it
goes down
you
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