mu >>> bigeye emperor >>> (monotaxis grandoculis)
the hardest fish to spear, they are extremely smart and cautious making them very difficult to approach underwater...large eyes, blunt snout, with brown / silver sides...one of the unique features about this fish is its teeth...they have molars in the back of their mouths that look like human teeth...they use them to crush crabs, mollusks, urchins, and other shelled creatures...

the story... uncle tony, sheldon and i headed out early to dive the north shore... we jumped in the water at mokuleia and found that it was a little bit cloudy from the wave action, after shooting an omilu and some kumus, sheldon and i checked out some other nice spots, but were unable to find any really good fish... as we were heading in, i approached a channel area where i had seen some fish earlier in the dive... i dropped down about 20 feet and hid in a crack alongside the reef... i looked around and didn't see any fish, but rather than come up to the surface i decide to relax and just cruise on the bottom for a little while longer... about 20 seconds later, a mu came cruising up to me point blank!!! i was startled but still managed to get off a spine shot behind his head... he turned on his side and began swimming in circles... just as i was about to grab him, the spear shaft slipped out of him... my heart sank as he gave a last ditch effort to get away and i couldn't grab him... i returned to the surface to get some air and to calm my heartbeat... i could still see him swimming in circles on the bottom as he disappeared into a small cave... i descended down to the cave, but he vanished!!! i started to feel sick knowing that i had mortally injured him and that he would probably not survive if he was to get away... after about 10 minutes of searching i was almost ready to give up... determined to find the mu, i made a last drop and looked into a cave and noticed a fish swimming upside down... even though he was almost dead, i shot him once more just in case... at last, my first big mu!!!