We were on the beach early in the morning a couple of days ago, and came across this pattern in the sand. It looked like someone had a stick and doodled in the sand as they passed, but on closer inspection it turned out to be the track of a kupe’e, a small Hawaiian mollusk. Kupe’e shells are often worn as ornaments by both male and female hula dancers.

I followed the track, and finally found the little creature attached to the side the rock in the foreground of the top photo.

And the second photo offers a closer view. Can you spot the kupe’e along the upper edge of the rock?

We see kupe’e tracks now and then along the beach in Kahala, although they don’t appear to be plentiful in the area.