What fish? Oh, that's a humuhumunukunukuapua'a! Aquarium staff welcome unprounceable new Hawaiian arrival

There's one fish you are unlikely to find on the menu in British chippy - because there isn't a wall long enough to write its name on.



And even if there was, no-one would be able to order the national fish of Hawaii by its proper name.



Even experts at the Hastings Blue Reef Aquarium in East Sussex, which has just welcomed the new addition to their collection, can't wrap their tongues around the word humuhumunukunukuapua'a.

Watch the video below...



You can say that again: The Hawaiian Humuhumunukunukuapua'a is giving staff at its new home problems with its awkward name

Aquarium manager Kate Buss said: 'He's a beautiful-looking fish but none of us have got the faintest idea how to pronounce his name and it's proving a little embarrassing when we do our public talks and feeding demonstrations as he's the one fish in the toxic reef display that everyone always asks us about.



'We got someone to write it out phonetically but that really wasn't any clearer and we tried just calling him a wedge tail triggerfish, which is an alternate name, but no one's letting us get away with that either.



'Apparently the name was also included in a scene from the Russell Brand comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which was partially set in Hawaii.'



Even in its home waters the name proves a challenge.



Screen time: The fish gets a mention in the Russell Brand comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which is set partly in Hawaii

SO HOW DO YOU SAY IT? Tourism website www.govisithawaii.com is familiar with the tongue twisting problem faced by non-natives so they have provided a pronunciation guide. It says: 'I used to think that I’d never be able to pronounce humuhumunukunukuapua’a, but it’s actually quite easy after you sound it out a time or two.

'Here’s how to pronounce it: who-moo-who-moo-noo-koo-noo-koo-ah-pooah-ah” Easy, peasy, right?' The name humuhumunukunukuapua' is often said to be one of the longest words in the Hawaiian Language and the cliche goes that 'the name is longer than the fish.' The reef, rectangular, or wedge-tail triggerfish, is also called humuhumu for short. It is not, as often claimed, the longest fish name in Hawaiian; that distinction belongs to lauwiliwilinukunukuʻoiʻoi ('long-snouted fish shaped like a wiliwili leaf'), the butterflyfish Forcipiger longirostris.



Hawaiians use the fish to check if a new face is truly a native - if they can't pronounce it, they are not to be trusted.



Although it may look pretty, the fish is equipped with razor sharp teeth and is aggressive in the wild, often giving divers a nasty nip if they get too close. It is believed to be highly toxic if eaten.

And along with its piggish nose, the fish makes a disgruntled snorting sound when taken out of the water.



Despite the fish's growing fame at the aquarium, the triggerfish initially failed to make much of an impression on visitors.



'We had only had him on display for a couple of days when he disappeared entirely,' said Miss Buss.



'Apparently he had hidden himself behind rockwork at the back of the display and we only found him at feeding time when he came up to the surface and began begging our senior aquarist for food.



'He has a lot of personality and he rushes around the tank, eating and filtering sand and always looking like he's on a mission to get somewhere.'





Hastings Blue Reef Aquarium in East Sussex has just welcomed the new addition to their collection

Below is a video of an Hawaiian singer Don Ho fitting the word into the song My Little Grass Shack. Pay attention at about 1minute 10 seconds into the video for his example to follow.