{"id":735048,"date":"2026-06-14T00:55:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T00:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/735048\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T00:55:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T00:55:21","slug":"it-attacks-with-a-short-movement-sucking-up-the-prey-with-an-expansion-of-its-tubular-snout-meet-8-weirdest-bizarrest-animals-in-hawaii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/735048\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u00a0attacks\u00a0with a short movement, sucking up the prey with an expansion of its tubular snout.\u201d Meet 8 weirdest, bizarrest animals in Hawai’i"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hawai’i is home to a vast number of species found nowhere else on Earth, many of them endangered or threatened. The reason for both its richness and its fragility is the same: isolation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Hawaiian archipelago sits over 2,000 miles from the nearest landmass, meaning every species<\/a> that lives here arrived by wind, wave or wing \u2013 and then evolved entirely on its own terms, cut off from the rest of the world.\u00a0Geese lost their webbing and started mooing. Bats<\/a> crossed an ocean no bat had ever crossed. Squid<\/a> learned to project moonlight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These are some of the most unusual animals the islands have to offer.<\/p>\n

Weirdest animals in Hawai’i
\nReef triggerfish (Rhinecanthus rectangulus)
\n\"Reefd3_plus D.Naruse @ Japan\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

This colourful fish is also known as humuhumunukunukuapua\u2019a, meaning \u2018triggerfish with a snout like a pig\u2019 in Hawaiian. When threatened, it uses its dorsal spine to lock itself into small crevices in the reef<\/a>, a behaviour known as wedging. This is both a defence against predators and something the fish uses to rest at night. The spine locks upright and can\u2019t be pushed down unless a second smaller \u2018trigger\u2019 spine is pushed down first.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When faced with a predator, reef triggerfish\u00a0produce\u00a0pig-like grunting sounds.\u00a0The grunts aren\u2019t just noise; they\u2019re thought to warn nearby triggerfish that danger is close.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hawaiian happy face spider (Theridion grallator)
\n\"TheridionNate Yuen, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n

This spider gets its name from the smiley face pattern on its abdomen \u2013 although the patterns differ\u00a0across the Hawaiian Islands. The happy-face spider<\/a> is polymorphic, meaning it exhibits different characteristics across the same species<\/a>. Some of those spiders even lack the markings altogether.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This species not only comes in many variations of patterns, but they also change colour depending on the spider\u2019s diet, which is a rare behaviour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Its varying appearance and colouring are thought to be a survival tactic to avoid predators like birds, who will use a particularly abundant colour to identify possible prey.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brahminy blind snake (Indotyphlops braminus)
\n\"Brahminyfinchfocus\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Brahminy blind snake<\/a> is one of the smallest snakes<\/a> in the world. It\u2019s non-venomous<\/a> and looks a lot like an earthworm<\/a>. It\u2019s usually about 2-4 inches long, with a head and tail that look almost identical. Its eyes<\/a> are tiny dots hidden under scales, making it almost completely blind.<\/p>\n

These snakes are also called \u2018flowerpot snakes\u2019 due to their habit of hitching a ride in flowerpots with the plant trade. That\u2019s how they might have\u00a0arrived<\/a>\u00a0in Hawai’i in 1927.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All Brahminy blind snakes are female<\/a>. The species is parthenogenetic, meaning they reproduce by laying eggs that hatch without fertilisation. It only takes one snake to produce countless generations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While most snakes devour prey headfirst and whole, the Brahminy blind snake demonstrates an interesting tendency to decapitate termites before eating them.<\/p>\n

Hawaiian Hoary Bat (Lasiurus semotus)
\n\"HawaiianFrank Bonaccorso, USGS, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n

Hawai’i has no native snakes, land reptiles or land amphibians. But it does have a native mammal.\u00a0Also known as\u00a0\u02bb\u014dpe\u02bbape\u02bba, this species<\/a> of bat<\/a> is the only extant and native terrestrial animal there.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It first landed in the islands 10,000 years ago, and to do that, it had to travel over 2,000 miles of ocean. Unlike birds, bats don\u2019t usually fly such long distances \u2013 but scientists think the bat was aided by strong trade winds. Among the over 1,300 bat species, this is the single longest overwater flight followed by a founding of a new population.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a small bat, about 30 per cent smaller than its North American relatives, with brown and grey fur tipped with white, giving it a frosted appearance. This is where both its names come from: \u2018hoary\u2019 means frosted, while \u02bb\u014dpe\u02bbape\u02bba refers to the shape of its wing, resembling a half taro leaf \u2013 or the sail of a traditional Hawaiian canoe.<\/p>\n

Oriental flying gurnard (Dactyloptena orientalis)
\n\"orientalimageBROKER\/Frank Schneider\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The flying gurnar<\/a>d owes its name to its winglike fins, although it\u2019s completely misleading \u2013 flying gurnards don\u2019t fly, but walk. On its undercarriage, pelvic fins with finger-like spines hold the fish off the bottom, moving like legs, allowing it to stroll around the ocean floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During this stroll, it keeps the giant pectoral fins folded at its sides.\u00a0When alarmed, it spreads them wide, going from three to 14 inches wide, and walks in circles \u2013 a bluffing display complete with false eyes to confuse predators. If that fails, it bolts.<\/p>\n

Trumpetfish (Aulostomus chinensis)
\n\"trumpetfish\"ifish\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

In Hawai\u2019i, the trumpetfish is known as\u00a0n\u016bn\u016b. It has a tubular snout and an elongated body growing up to 80cm in length.<\/p>\n

This fish is a clever hunter, employing two techniques to catch prey. The first is ambush \u2013 lying in wait for potential prey to get close. The second is more cunning and involves discreet tracking of bigger fish, waiting for an opportunity to strike. And when it does, it\u00a0attacks\u00a0with a short darting movement, sucking up the prey with an expansion of its tubular snout.<\/p>\n

Hawaiian bobtail squid\u00a0(Euprymna scolopes)
\n\"HawaiianDavid_Slater\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Hawaiian bobtail squid<\/a> is a small cephalopod, reaching a mantle length of about 3.5 centimetres \u2013 roughly the size of a golf ball.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s found in shallow coastal waters off Hawai’i. During daylight hours, it remains hidden by burying itself in the sediment and going as far as gluing sand grains to its body to form camouflage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also for the purposes of camouflage<\/a>, this squid\u00a0creates an extraordinary light show. It\u2019s able to become \u2018invisible\u2019 thanks to a symbiosis with bioluminescent marine bacteria called\u00a0Vibrio fischeri,\u00a0which lives inside its light organ, located in the mantle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Predators will often use shadows cast by prey to locate them. Sensors on the squid\u2019s mantle measure the intensity of moonlight and project an equal beam from their light organ. The brightness below is matched to that above \u2013 so all the predator sees is what looks like a single unbroken moonbeam. And the squid is left in peace.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hawaiian goose (Branta sandvicensis)
\n\"hawaiianWestend61\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Also known as the n\u0113n\u0113, this is the famous official state bird of Hawai\u2019i, exclusively found on the islands of Maui, Kaua\u2019i, Moloka\u2019i, and Hawai\u2019i.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Based on fossil DNA, the n\u0113n\u0113 is closely related to the Canada goose, which is\u00a0thought<\/a>\u00a0to have arrived on the archipelago over 500,000 years ago. With no need to migrate and no large predators to flee, the goose gradually lost much of its toe webbing, replacing the paddle-like feet of a water bird with toughened, gripping toes better suited to walking on hardened lava fields.<\/p>\n

It stopped breeding in summer like its North American relatives and switched to winter instead. It became semi-terrestrial, spending most of its life on land.<\/p>\n

Today the n\u0113n\u0113 is one of the rarest goose species in the world \u2013 the sole survivor of at least five goose species that once lived on the islands. Its Hawaiian name comes from its soft call, which sounds less like a goose and more like a cow.<\/p>\n

Top image: a lava covered seashore and palm trees on a tropical island. Credit: James Keith\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hawai’i is home to a vast number of species found nowhere else on Earth, many of them endangered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":735049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":["post-735048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}