Hawaii state fish! 🐠 I swam with humuhumunukunukuapua‘a when snorkeling in Hawaii! aka reef triggerfish

ALOHA!

 

If you are planning your first trip to Hawaii, how can you impress people when you are in Hawaii?!

By being like, “Snorkeling was so great today! And, I saw the Hawaii state fish, humuhumunukunukuapuaa!”

😂😂😂

Of course, in order for this to be true, you need to go snorkeling, and then actually see it!

But, even though it’s a long name for a fish, humuhumunukunukuapuaa isn’t as difficult to pronounce as you may think! More below!

The Hawaiian language way of writing it is humuhumunukunukuāpua‘a.

This is also called the reef triggerfish, and it’s also the state fish of Hawaii!

So, you could also say, “I went snorkeling today and saw the Hawaii state fish, the reef triggerfish.” But, that’s just not as fun, is it?! 🤪

 

 

The reef triggerfish isn’t so common that you are guaranteed to see it when snorkeling in Hawaii, but you do have a good chance of seeing it.

So, as long as you look at pictures of the humuhumunukunukuapuaa online before you go snorkeling, you will know when you see it!

Look: Waikiki Aquarium reef triggerfish 👀

The reef triggerfish is a much more vibrant orange color online than I got pictures of. 😜

 

 

When snorkeling in Hawaii, I saw the humuhumunukunukuapuaa several times before I actually was able to get a video of it.

This is to say, I saw it swimming around on several occasions while snorkeling on Oahu in the Waikiki Marine Life Conservation District, so it’s not a rarity!

 

 

The reef triggerfish doesn’t seem to stay in one place for long.

It seemed like it was always swimming away!

This is unlike some other fish that it seemed like they at least stayed in the same general area 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! 😂

With the reef triggerfish, it was a bit more difficult.

 

 

 

How to pronounce humuhumunukunukuapua’a

So back to impressing people by being able to pronounce humuhumunukunukuapua’a.

Or maybe you just want to impress yourself.

Like, you’re snorkeling, and you see a humuhumunukunukuapua’a, and then you’re like “Oh! It’s a humuhumunukunukuapua’a!”

And then you’re like, Wow! I’m quite impressed with myself that I could say that!

😂

Seriously, this happened to me exactly. 😂

So again, it’s actually not as difficult to say as you might think.

If you break up the word, then you will find that there are some repeats.

How is how to make it easy to pronounce humuhumunukunukuapua’a:

• humu-humu (hoo-moo-hoo-moo)
• nuku-nuku (noo-koo-noo-koo)
• a-pu-a-a (ah-poo-ah-ah)

So, you can say it one line at a time:

• First say humuhumu
• Then say nukunuku
• Then say the final apua‘a!

Practice that a few times…

And then now say it all at once with no pause!

And practice that a few times!

And then you are ready to impress people when you are in Hawaii!

Or even at home!

You can be like, I can’t wait to go snorkeling in Hawaii and see a humuhumunukunukuapuaa! 😂

 

Practice a few more times! Watch the video on how to pronounce…errr… sing… humuhumunukunukuapua’a! 😂

 

You can watch the humuhumunukunukuapua‘a reef triggerfish Hawaii video on youtube. Also watch the Oahu video playlist on youtube!

 

 

And that’s a bit about the reef triggerfish in Hawaii!

 

More snorkeling:

• 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 HAWAII STATE FISH!