ISLAND OF MOLOKAI

HALAWA VALLEY

This Valley opens up to the shoreline with a large north east facing bay that is fairly protected via large boulder fields that are situated off of the south end of the bay. A large stream enters the semi-enclosed embayment on the south end of this site. There was a very cold fresh water lens which contained a large amount of particulate matter on the surface of the water at the river mouth and extending out into the bay. The habitat types available for marine organisms at this site included a shallow sandy emayment with heavy fresh water impact and a large exposed boulder field extending along the south side of the bay. The intertidal zone in the boulder field appeared to be quite diverse and probably was exposed to a heavy disturbance regime. Coralline algae (both crustose and branching upright forms) were very common in the upper intertidal. At least 2 species of the opihi (limpets) were also abundant in this area. The lower intertidal was rich with marcoalgal taxa. There were several species of herbivorous fish in the surge zone. There were no marine plants in the sandy lagoon area and no sign of alien/invasive species of algae anywhere at this site.

Table 1.  Information regarding site characteristics and alien species abundances. The  number recorded for each alien species of algae is a ranking of the abundance of that species at each given site. Impact ranking values range from 0 (not present) to 10 (100% cover). 

Table 2.  Species list of all of the algal samples that were collected at this site. Alien species are displayed in green.  

Table 3.  Species list and relative abundance of all herbivorous fish encountered at this site.