Hawaiian flagtail
Encyclopedia
The Hawaiian flagtails are species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of flagtail
Flagtail
The flagtails are a family of perciform fish of the Indo-Pacific area. The family consists of several species in one genus, Kuhlia, of which, one, , is freshwater...

 fishes found in the Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...

.
Two species are Kuhlia sandvicensis and Kuhlia xenura. K. xenura is endemic to the Hawaiian islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...

.

In the Hawaiian language
Hawaiian language
The Hawaiian language is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the state of Hawaii...

, āholehole refers to the young stage, and āhole the mature fish. It was sometimes called puaa kai, literally "sea pig".
Keahole Point
Keahole Point
Keāhole Point is the westernmost point of the island of Hawaii. The Kona International Airport was moved here from directly north of the town of Kailua-Kona in 1970, when the previous smaller airstrip was converted into the Old Kona Airport State Recreation Area...

 and the Kona International Airport
Kona International Airport
Kona International Airport at Keāhole is an airport on the Island of Hawaii, in Kalaoa CDP, Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. The airport serves leeward, or Western Hawaii island, including the town of Kailua-Kona and the major resorts of the North Kona and South Kohala districts.- History...

located there are named for the fish.
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