ALOHA!
There are many different kinds of fish you have a chance to see when you go snorkeling in Hawaii.
One of those fish is the Hawaiian whitespotted toby!
But if you don’t look closely, you might miss it!
It’s a cute little fish with obvious markings, so it is pretty easy to identify!
I didn’t even know this fish existed before I saw it, let alone what it was called… but when I did see it, I thought it was a cute little fishie!
It looked like a little puffed up fishie with white spots. pufferfish… 😆
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👆 Spot the Hawaiian whitespotted toby!
👆 Spot the Hawaiian whitespotted toby!
👆 Spot the Hawaiian whitespotted toby!
I saw the Hawaiian whitespotted toby when I was snorkeling on Oahu at 2 different Waikiki Beach snorkeling spots.
The Hawaiian whitespotted toby might not be so common that you are guaranteed to see it when snorkeling in Hawaii, but you do have a chance of seeing it.
It seems like it is one of the more common fish in Hawaii.
I looked back at some pictures from when I did snorkeling on the Big Island, and on a Hawaiian fish sign at one snorkeling beaches there was a list of a bunch of fish you might see snorkeling there.
One of those fish was the Hawaiian whitespotted toby! (So was the humuhumunukunukuapuaa!)
And actually, the Waikiki Aquarium even says that the Hawaiian whitespotted toby is a “very common” fish in Hawaii!
And even more than that, they say it can only be seen in Hawaii!
According to the Waikiki Aquarium:
The Hawaiian white-spotted toby (Canthigaster jactator), which reaches a size of about 3 inches (7.6 cm), is very common in Hawaii, but is found nowhere else in the world.
And, as long as you look at pictures of the Hawaiian whitespotted toby online before you go snorkeling, you will know when you see it!
Look: Maui Ocean Center 👀
I saw the Hawaiian whitespotted toby when snorkeling on Oahu.
The first time was at Kuhio Beach, which isn’t known as a snorkeling beach, but there were still fish swimming around.
The second time, I was snorkeling in the Waikiki Marine Life Conservation District at Queens Beach.
Both times that I saw the Hawaiian whitespotted toby, it stayed in one spot for a pretty long time. (Or rather, a long enough time for me to get a video of it! So pretty long time here is relative. 😜)
This means that it stayed in one spot long enough for me to see it, put my head above water, fumble around with the phone that’s in my waterproof phone case, and then go back underwater to be able to find the same fish again, and take a video of it! 😂
👆 If you don’t see the video above, you can watch the Hawaiian whitespotted toby video on youtube. Also watch the Oahu video playlist on youtube!
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And that’s a bit about the Hawaiian whitespotted toby in Hawaii!
More snorkeling:
- What to wear snorkeling in Hawaii
- The fish you need to look for in Hawaii: humuhumunukunukuapuaa
- Best snorkeling in Hawaii on the island of Oahu
- Best snorkeling in Hawaii on the island of Maui
- Best snorkeling in Hawaii on the Big Island
- Best snorkeling in Florida
HAPPY SEEING THE HAWAIIAN WHITESPOTTED TOBY PUFFERFISH!
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