After being hidden for too long for many us, the Big Island’s Pu’u O’o volcano flow emerged above ground recently, slowly making its way near Kalapana and into the ocean. Visitors from all over have been making their way to Hawaii to watch molten rock slide by just feet in front of them.
“The raw power and beauty of our #earth!”
Some site-seers take to the water to catch an ocean-side spectacle of lava meeting sea, hot meeting cold. When the lava plunges into the sea, sulfuric steam rises and small bits of glass crackle and pop on the surface. Below the water, a the lava cools and coils into new land, ever so slowly adding to Hawaii’s size.
That’s amazing…what happens to the aquatic life then? Do they boil to the surface or do they instinctually just know to swim away from the area from the vibration? Interesting…
We don’t know for certain. What we have seen is that the aquatic life tends to stay away from the active areas simply because the water is too hot. Some of the easily visible fish, like surgeon fish and other colorful reef fish, do get remarkably close though. We wouldn’t be surprised to learn that some creatures are attracted to the heat and mix of gases.