 Mean curvature of a catenoid

Scale the catenoid by its waist radius $a>0$ and choose a unit normal with outward radial component:The hyperbolic cosine controls the profile $r(z)=a\cosh (z/a)$. Direct differentiation yields the first fundamental form and second fundamental formThe coordinate tangent vectors are orthogonal, so the meridional and circumferential principal curvatures areThe opposite principal curvatures cancel at every point, not just at the waist. This is precisely why the catenoid is a minimal surface, while its nonzero second fundamental form and negative Gaussian curvature show that it is not a plane.