[2] They are found in areas with a lot of corals, rocks, nooks, and crannies to have a quiet get-away and hiding place from potential threats.

[5] As juveniles, they will tend to be considered “cleaners'': such as picking parasites from larger fish or animals, but as they mature they will start to scavenge for worms, shells, mollusks, shrimps, and other crustaceans.

[5] Hīnālea were integral to society and fishing communities in Hawaii as a staple food and regular item in the Hawaiian diet.

[6][7] Specific fishing practices include melomelo, where club-like sticks were charred and anointed in oil to attract hīnālea when submerged underwater.

[7] Fishermen, or lawai‘a, wove baskets, called hīnaʻi hoʻoluʻuluʻu, out of vines of the endemic ‘āwikiwiki plant, which then were weighted and dropped into the ocean to trap hīnālea.