dr. mykle hoban
@thefishbotherer.bsky.social
A dedicated follower of fishes. Technical diving, mesophotic reefs, and biodiversity at the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology. (he/they)
Here's a #Crustmas / #fishmas / #25DaysOfFishmas double-whammy:
Two Cephalopholis igarashiensis groupers just partying in among an absolute MESS of little purple and yellow shrimps (what are they?!)
Filmed from a crewed submersible at ~215m on expedition in Tuvalu.
🐠🦑🦀
Two Cephalopholis igarashiensis groupers just partying in among an absolute MESS of little purple and yellow shrimps (what are they?!)
Filmed from a crewed submersible at ~215m on expedition in Tuvalu.
🐠🦑🦀
December 1, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Here's a #Crustmas / #fishmas / #25DaysOfFishmas double-whammy:
Two Cephalopholis igarashiensis groupers just partying in among an absolute MESS of little purple and yellow shrimps (what are they?!)
Filmed from a crewed submersible at ~215m on expedition in Tuvalu.
🐠🦑🦀
Two Cephalopholis igarashiensis groupers just partying in among an absolute MESS of little purple and yellow shrimps (what are they?!)
Filmed from a crewed submersible at ~215m on expedition in Tuvalu.
🐠🦑🦀
Happy #AntarcticaDay! Here I am almost 20 years ago, rising above the McMurdo Sound sea ice with Mount Erebus steaming in the distance. I still think about Antarctica all the time.
(working in Antarctica led, in a very roundabout way, to me studying Indo-Pacific reef fishes & biodiversity)
(working in Antarctica led, in a very roundabout way, to me studying Indo-Pacific reef fishes & biodiversity)
December 1, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Happy #AntarcticaDay! Here I am almost 20 years ago, rising above the McMurdo Sound sea ice with Mount Erebus steaming in the distance. I still think about Antarctica all the time.
(working in Antarctica led, in a very roundabout way, to me studying Indo-Pacific reef fishes & biodiversity)
(working in Antarctica led, in a very roundabout way, to me studying Indo-Pacific reef fishes & biodiversity)
Do you not have this little thing next to the play bar in the bottom right of the screen?
November 27, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Do you not have this little thing next to the play bar in the bottom right of the screen?
A movie that takes place where you're from
November 23, 2025 at 8:51 PM
A movie that takes place where you're from
Bonus eagle ray in slightly deeper water (but still shot from the pier)
November 21, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Bonus eagle ray in slightly deeper water (but still shot from the pier)
Lilipuna Pier videos, part 4, bringing back #FlatFuckFriday (is that a thing still?):
Here's a young hīhīmanu or spotted eagle ray (Aeotobatus ocellatus). They seem to like to forage on the shallow reef flat under the pier and I love seeing them.
🐠🦑
Here's a young hīhīmanu or spotted eagle ray (Aeotobatus ocellatus). They seem to like to forage on the shallow reef flat under the pier and I love seeing them.
🐠🦑
November 21, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Lilipuna Pier videos, part 4, bringing back #FlatFuckFriday (is that a thing still?):
Here's a young hīhīmanu or spotted eagle ray (Aeotobatus ocellatus). They seem to like to forage on the shallow reef flat under the pier and I love seeing them.
🐠🦑
Here's a young hīhīmanu or spotted eagle ray (Aeotobatus ocellatus). They seem to like to forage on the shallow reef flat under the pier and I love seeing them.
🐠🦑
Part 3 of Bad Videos Taken from the Lilipuna Pier:
This smiley guy is Diodon hystrix, the kōkala or spotted porcupinefish. For some reason there's almost always a big aggregation of these guys in the deeper water off the end of the pier and I don't know why (though it's probably cleaning).
🐠🦑
This smiley guy is Diodon hystrix, the kōkala or spotted porcupinefish. For some reason there's almost always a big aggregation of these guys in the deeper water off the end of the pier and I don't know why (though it's probably cleaning).
🐠🦑
November 17, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Part 3 of Bad Videos Taken from the Lilipuna Pier:
This smiley guy is Diodon hystrix, the kōkala or spotted porcupinefish. For some reason there's almost always a big aggregation of these guys in the deeper water off the end of the pier and I don't know why (though it's probably cleaning).
🐠🦑
This smiley guy is Diodon hystrix, the kōkala or spotted porcupinefish. For some reason there's almost always a big aggregation of these guys in the deeper water off the end of the pier and I don't know why (though it's probably cleaning).
🐠🦑
Distorted Videos of Stuff I Saw Off The Lilipuna Pier, Part 2.
Today, we got squid. These are muhe‘e or bigfin reef squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana). I don't see them often, so I consider it a treat that several were hanging around this morning.
🐠🦑
Today, we got squid. These are muhe‘e or bigfin reef squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana). I don't see them often, so I consider it a treat that several were hanging around this morning.
🐠🦑
November 13, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Distorted Videos of Stuff I Saw Off The Lilipuna Pier, Part 2.
Today, we got squid. These are muhe‘e or bigfin reef squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana). I don't see them often, so I consider it a treat that several were hanging around this morning.
🐠🦑
Today, we got squid. These are muhe‘e or bigfin reef squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana). I don't see them often, so I consider it a treat that several were hanging around this morning.
🐠🦑
Part one of a potentially ongoing series entitled Distorted Videos of Stuff I Saw Off The Lilipuna Pier*
Let's start with a common one (but a fun one). This is the ‘ō‘io orshortjaw bonefish, Albula glossodonta. For some reason, they're often bigger in Hawai‘i than elsewhere in the Pacific.
🐠🦑
Let's start with a common one (but a fun one). This is the ‘ō‘io orshortjaw bonefish, Albula glossodonta. For some reason, they're often bigger in Hawai‘i than elsewhere in the Pacific.
🐠🦑
November 13, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Part one of a potentially ongoing series entitled Distorted Videos of Stuff I Saw Off The Lilipuna Pier*
Let's start with a common one (but a fun one). This is the ‘ō‘io orshortjaw bonefish, Albula glossodonta. For some reason, they're often bigger in Hawai‘i than elsewhere in the Pacific.
🐠🦑
Let's start with a common one (but a fun one). This is the ‘ō‘io orshortjaw bonefish, Albula glossodonta. For some reason, they're often bigger in Hawai‘i than elsewhere in the Pacific.
🐠🦑
A beautiful kelpfish (Gibbonsia metzi) from an after-dark negative tide near Santa Cruz, CA. Look at his little striped mittens! 🐟🐠🐟
November 11, 2025 at 6:20 AM
A beautiful kelpfish (Gibbonsia metzi) from an after-dark negative tide near Santa Cruz, CA. Look at his little striped mittens! 🐟🐠🐟
In b4 @hawaiianimages.bsky.social with the endemic Hawaiian tree snails (kāhuli). This one I think is Achatinella mustelina? (host trees all endemic in these pics too)
November 9, 2025 at 9:09 AM
In b4 @hawaiianimages.bsky.social with the endemic Hawaiian tree snails (kāhuli). This one I think is Achatinella mustelina? (host trees all endemic in these pics too)
Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness
(these are real people but also they are Characters)
(these are real people but also they are Characters)
October 21, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness
(these are real people but also they are Characters)
(these are real people but also they are Characters)
Didn't even have to worry about it, hah!
October 17, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Didn't even have to worry about it, hah!
What's the best one liner in movie history?
October 17, 2025 at 8:12 AM
What's the best one liner in movie history?
One of my favorite Hawaiian endemics
October 12, 2025 at 5:18 AM
One of my favorite Hawaiian endemics
For my algae heads: happy spooky season!
(📷: my friend Stephanie who isn’t on here)
🦑
(📷: my friend Stephanie who isn’t on here)
🦑
October 5, 2025 at 5:31 AM
For my algae heads: happy spooky season!
(📷: my friend Stephanie who isn’t on here)
🦑
(📷: my friend Stephanie who isn’t on here)
🦑
Everything else sucks, but these things I got to do in 2025 have truly helped me keep my head above water:
1) Descend in a submersible and face a living nautilus.
2) See the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry in person*.
h/t to @book-historia.bsky.social for alerting me that the TRH was on display
1) Descend in a submersible and face a living nautilus.
2) See the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry in person*.
h/t to @book-historia.bsky.social for alerting me that the TRH was on display
September 22, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Everything else sucks, but these things I got to do in 2025 have truly helped me keep my head above water:
1) Descend in a submersible and face a living nautilus.
2) See the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry in person*.
h/t to @book-historia.bsky.social for alerting me that the TRH was on display
1) Descend in a submersible and face a living nautilus.
2) See the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry in person*.
h/t to @book-historia.bsky.social for alerting me that the TRH was on display
A bit of a death march, ~6 km in the full sun up 500 m or so* (and possibly some light trespassing), but 100% worth it for the stones. Villard Dolmen, Ubaye, France. @stoneclub.bsky.social @megalithic.bsky.social
*google will say you can drive there but only if you have, like, a land rover.
*google will say you can drive there but only if you have, like, a land rover.
August 22, 2025 at 11:04 PM
A bit of a death march, ~6 km in the full sun up 500 m or so* (and possibly some light trespassing), but 100% worth it for the stones. Villard Dolmen, Ubaye, France. @stoneclub.bsky.social @megalithic.bsky.social
*google will say you can drive there but only if you have, like, a land rover.
*google will say you can drive there but only if you have, like, a land rover.
The curse of just using the first royalty-free google image result strikes again!
Here, the parks all have this (generally well-meaning) sign...but no Hawaiian reef in the history of the world has ever looked like that.
Here, the parks all have this (generally well-meaning) sign...but no Hawaiian reef in the history of the world has ever looked like that.
August 7, 2025 at 9:09 PM
The curse of just using the first royalty-free google image result strikes again!
Here, the parks all have this (generally well-meaning) sign...but no Hawaiian reef in the history of the world has ever looked like that.
Here, the parks all have this (generally well-meaning) sign...but no Hawaiian reef in the history of the world has ever looked like that.
Then we compared all the shallow crab communities to the ones sampled from the 90 m depth gradient on O‘ahu (at 12, 30, 60, and 90 m). We saw that all of the groups at 30 m and deeper on O‘ahu were VERY different from all of the other groups across the entire archipelago!
July 28, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Then we compared all the shallow crab communities to the ones sampled from the 90 m depth gradient on O‘ahu (at 12, 30, 60, and 90 m). We saw that all of the groups at 30 m and deeper on O‘ahu were VERY different from all of the other groups across the entire archipelago!
For the shallow crabs, we used a statistical model to examine how they were affected by a suite of different environmental factors. Unsurprisingly, they *were* affected, and significantly driven by sea-surface temperature, chlorophyll-A, depth*, island slope, connectivity, and human impacts.
July 28, 2025 at 6:17 PM
For the shallow crabs, we used a statistical model to examine how they were affected by a suite of different environmental factors. Unsurprisingly, they *were* affected, and significantly driven by sea-surface temperature, chlorophyll-A, depth*, island slope, connectivity, and human impacts.
We used ARMS (autonomous reef monitoring structures), standardized units designed to survey hidden reef critters, to look at brachyuran crab communities across the entire shallow expanse of the Hawaiian Islands (Hawai‘i Island to Hōlanikū/Kure Atoll). We also sampled from 12 to 90 m on O‘ahu.
July 28, 2025 at 6:17 PM
We used ARMS (autonomous reef monitoring structures), standardized units designed to survey hidden reef critters, to look at brachyuran crab communities across the entire shallow expanse of the Hawaiian Islands (Hawai‘i Island to Hōlanikū/Kure Atoll). We also sampled from 12 to 90 m on O‘ahu.
Post an unusual sign if you feel like it.
June 29, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Post an unusual sign if you feel like it.
Although if in doubt, here’s your explanation
June 17, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Although if in doubt, here’s your explanation
