I fished a different part of the reef edge dropping off into a deep channel last week.  I started at the bottom of the low tide but the waves were still hitting me above my waist.  I was hoping for some big strikes in the channel, instead I caught a barely legal moana and a roi (peacock grouper) dragging my bait over the reef edge.

The roi was only about 10 inches long but it’s mouth was disproportionately huge.  Fully open, it looked almost 3 inches in diameter with small, sharp teeth facing inward to prevent swallowed prey from escaping.  Very creepy looking, like the mouth of a space alien, not the Tahitian alien species it is.  I can see how roi are able to target the juvenile reef fish and swallow them whole.

I wanted to kill the roi but wasn’t equipped to stab it, standing in waist deep water holding a rod.  The best I could do was squeeze it below the gills with my long nose pliers.  It swam off, mortally wounded, to become food for the fish it preyed on.

The tide rose and I retreated back to shore.  Pretty slow day with a few small papio landed on the way in.  All the fish were released, only the roi was harmed.

Here’s another post about the evil roi that’s been decimating our native reef fish.