By: Jason

After a long day in the field (see previous post) I came home to get cleaned up. A hot shower felt great, but I decided to take a short nap. Not 5 minutes into my slumber, my phone rang loudly.

Jason: "Shalom?"
Caller: "Hi Jason, this is Oz. I have a lobster for you."
Jason: "Who, who is this?"
Caller: "Dr. Oz" (not the one on American TV)
Jason: "Oz? Oh, right, sure that's great."
Oz: "I bring it over to your house. We go to University. I drop you off."
Jason: "Oh...okay. Call me when you are on the way." 
Click.

This was obviously a big surprise, but I was elated to have another lobster for my research. However, I was exhausted and not looking forward to making the trek back and forth to the University. I started to think of how I could keep the lobster at home for the night instead. Then it hit me, eureka! I happen to have a battery powered air pump, a bucket, and nice cool spot on the balcony. I think this might work. I just hoped the lobster was in good shape. 

Two hours later...

Dr. Oz calls. I meet him on the street with the bucket and some cash (yes, I still had to pay for the lobster). He motions at me to unstrap a bucket from the back of his pickup truck complete with salt water (now I'm set) and one very large and feisty slipper lobster. I'm hurrying because the truck is blocking traffic, but Oz seems unconcerned, chatting with my neighbor who he apparently knows from school. I hand him the money - there's not even any time to make change - and he drives off. Mission accomplished. 

The lobster was quite happy on the porch overnight and made it to University in one piece the next morning. You never know when you're going to need a bucket, sea water, and an air pump!

Oz the lobster

By: Jason

You may ask: so what does a typical field day look like here in Israel? This post is one I should have written a while ago, but it took a long time to understand what "typical" meant. Here it goes:

Tuesday

5:30 am: Get up; grab lunch, water, coffee, cooler, toolbox, bucket, dive booties, change of clothes, towel; walk to bus stop.

6:00 am: Transfer to second bus. By now, plenty of weird looks - I'm carrying all kinds of unusual items.

6:30 am: Arrive at University Sadna (Dive Facility). Meet the guys (Amir and Mosheko); load the truck and the boat with gear and equipment; and, just when you though you were ready to go, relax with a cup of Turkish coffee (now I'm awake!!!).

7:30 am: On the road to field site. Unexpected detour through residential neighborhood. Involving a 3-point turn by an F-350 towing a 20-ft boat on a trailer. 

8:00 am: Arrive at field site. Get wet and start the military-style boat launch. This involves lots of yelling and being ordered around, but it works - just hard at 8 in the morning. 

Boat launch in Nahariyya, northern Israel

8:30 am: Collecting data, doing research, diving, launching nets - the best part of my day. The guys are helpful, creative, and fun to work with.

Hauling in the net

Capturing the critters

10:00 am: One more station to sample. But... alas, Amir decides it's time for a coffee break. From beneath the deck, he unpacks a toolbox. Out comes a camping stove, finjan, and glass cups. The water boils and the Turkish coffee flows. Amir transforms the workbench into a coffee bar and installs himself as the barista. If coffee isn't your thing, feel free to take a refreshing swim instead. 

Variations on the coffee break include: Anchoring the boat and swimming to the beach to have coffee with the local kibbutz sailing club. Or, picking up acquaintances, friends, colleagues, or the former chief admiral of the Israeli navy.

10:30 am: Finish with plankton tows, moving on to diving.

10:45 am: In the water diving, dodging jellyfish

11:00 am: Get your ass in the boat by hauling yourself through the tuna door. If you fail, you will be left behind when Mosheko takes off like a bat out of hell. 

12:00 pm: Lunch time! Variations on this include: no lunch, packed sandwiches, hummus at a gas station, or dock the boat at a busy fish pier send runner to best hummus place in Israel for takeout. While this happening, watch culinary show filming at fish pier. Are we really on TV? Ask the Dutch guy, he's the producer. 

If anyone sees this on the Food Network, let me know

12:45 pm: Back to the boat launch and time to extract the boat - stressful times! One person on the boat, one in the truck and the rest in the water. Lots of yelling and getting wet. Pull the boat, yank the rope, gun the engine, spin the tires, cross your fingers. Chances are you will repeat these steps more than once.

The R/V Zvi - finally on the trailer!

1:15 pm: Head home to Haifa. 

2:00 pm: Arrive at the Sadna. Unpack and wash the boat, truck, gear, etc. 

3:00 pm: Finish up and, if you're lucky, get dropped off at a more convenient bus stop. 

By: Jason

A primary research goal of mine here in Israel is to work with lobsters.  The Mediterranean slipper lobster however, is not like the lobsters you might be used to seeing in New England – that is readily visible (underwater), plentiful, and cheap.  As a result, I have had to rely on many people to help me navigate through the fishmonger stalls in Akko (Acre) to negotiate and, in most cases, purchase lobsters.  “Do you have any lobsterim (lobsters, that is) today?” in Hebrew or better yet Arabic (the preferred way to ask).  Oh yeah, I have also actually seen clawed lobsters at the fish market, flown in from Canada or Maine – unbelievable how those guys get around! 

Slipper lobster: Notice the beautiful purple highlights.
Once I got this lobster into the lab, I glued on the tag
(so I can tell who is who for experiments).

Over the past month or so, I have made myself familiar to a couple of the guys in the market, and they now recognize me.  This has been part of my usual routine, scampering around the Akko fish market, walking around the port, etc.  However this week, one of my colleagues at the University managed to hook me up with the Kingpin of the Akko fishing community (his name I will keep anonymous for obvious reasons).  I met this character on a stairwell, on a sweltering afternoon and, having made introductions (in very, very broken English and Arabic) he took me up the stairs, down a seedy looking hallway and into a dark room. 

There in the kitchenette sink were 5 nice-looking lobsters.  After little verbal communication and invisible writing of the price on the wall, we had made a deal (and excellent one!).  I had made a new friend and am excited to see this guy again.    

It’s still never a sure bet going to Akko for lobsters for one reason or another which brings me to the other way to get lobsters – go dive for them myself.

In fact, this is another part of my research: to capture and tag lobsters in a Marine Reserve, Achziv Marine Park located north of Haifa and on the border with the friendly neighbors to the north, Lebanon.  I have been getting the help of the Park Ranger there and am making some good progress.  

Diving for lobsters

As I alluded to earlier, these lobsters are hard to find.  They are cryptic and extremely camouflaged.  They tend to take up residence under large rocky ledges or inside small caves or holes, often hanging upside down.  Not that easy to find and catch when you have a limited source of air and need to hang almost upside down to find them.  Then there is their strength -- because these animals have no claws or spines, they rely on their brute force to cling to rocks or other hard objects.  They can use their powerful legs to open up bivalves (we have to shuck them with heavy, sharp knives) and the force at which they do so is tremendous.  Let’s just say they are like the true 4x4s of the Sea with the impenetrability of an army tank. 

Capturing these lobsters is a multi-step process: find ledges, caves, or holes in the sea bed, use a good flashlight to scan around, and hope to find one or two.  Other critters such as stingrays and even an occasional moray eel have  been known to co-exist with these lobsters as well.

Just another challenging but exciting adventure!

By: Jason

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a Department-sponsored research cruise aboard Israel's R/V Mediterranean Explorer or MedEx.  The research cruise featured a week of inter-disciplinary projects onboard the vessel and along the coast of Israel.  This was a real treat since I was not only going to be able to see what other faculty, staff and students were up to, but I was also allowed to conduct some of my own work and have the help of others along the way.  What really impressed me was the effort that was made to organize everybody's research needs and the teamwork and cooperation that everyone showed along the way.  Imagine an underwater archaeologist, a marine biologist, and a scholar in classics literature all working together hoisting ropes on deck and drinking coffee in the galley.  

Rummaging around the sea floor for
ancient artifacts -- no Coke bottles here.

Some of the research activities included surveys of underwater shipwrecks and ancient ports in Akko and Achziv, bottom sampling of deep-sea sediment cores in Achziv Canyon at more than 400 meters deep and conducting sampling tows for tiny creatures called plankton along with marine debris -- mostly plastics that find their way into our oceans and, unfortunately, are consumed by marine animals that should not be eating them.

Measuring some unknown underwater relics.

See the stingray? (Look for the tail)

Although I did not participate in all the activities, I was able to SCUBA dive for a day to help conduct a survey of an ancient Byzantine boat launch.  Aside from the lobsters I was searching for and the giant octopus and moray eel I found, I really had no idea what I was supposed to be looking for.  Yet, I learned quite a lot about the ancient seafaring cultures that came to colonize and live in the Levant Basin and among all the 'rocks' I found, was able to share in a few interesting finds of pottery shards and ancient anchors, give or take 2,000-3,000 years old!

Ehud and I were able to conduct a series of plankton tows (are part of our ongoing grant-sponsored project)  and had the opportunity to collect environmental data using a CTD (conductivity-temperature-density) unit.  This is a standard oceanographic instrument that is used to assess the 'vital signs' of the ocean in a particular area.  With today's technology, you can stream real-time data to a monitor and see what's going on -- very cool stuff!!

Drs. Spanier & Goldstein working 

on the deck -- a job well done!

The CTD unit being hoisted back on board

Although the MedEx was not as large or quite as equipped as other research vessels I've worked on, it had a great crew, and all the tools and equipment that was needed.  Turns out, the MedEx also sponsors a variety of educationally-based cruises for students and under-privaledged kids.  What a great idea.

By: Jason

I have yet to post one blog about my research and work here -- for that I apologize.  However, this post combines both a bit of adventure and work all in one.  Unlike back home, there is a season for lobster here, which has just gotten underway.  One of the best and most reliable places to obtain these strange (very different than you what you are probably used to seeing) creatures is in Akko (Acre), an ancient crusader city, captured by the Turks and presently a predominantly Arab fishing port just north of Haifa.  Akko boasts a surreal experience with its impenetrable walls, twisting alleyways, and local Arab flavor.  

The City of Akko (Acre)

Feels like an Indiana Jones movie

Ehud and I decided that the best place to buy some live or semi-live lobsters would be at the very good fish market in the Shuk.  Seafood comes in throughout the day from both commercial operations and artisanal fishermen.  One character we met was named Johnny Halwani, a jovial and large raw shrimp-eating Arab fish monger who worked hard to sell us his catch.  Ehud, eventually bought some really nice Grouper from him.  Johnny seemed to like us and wanted us to come back later for lobsters -- making a long story, short, we did and came up empty and we were lucky he did not feed us raw shrimp.

Mediterranean slipper lobsters are found throughout both the eastern and western Med. and are an exceptionally important marine resource in many coastal areas.   Part of not getting totally screwed here by the fish mongers is to: a) not speak English, b) look very serious, and c) don't get excited.  How hard is this for me to do????!!  Are you kidding, almost impossible!!  So, I hung back having to wait another time to practice the 10 or so Arabic words I have learned so far. 

Fresh fish - quite a variety

We picked up a couple of these guys (one guy and one gal) that were freshly dead, and very cold.  Amazingly, passing by later, there were some 'other' lobsters there to join them -- American clawed lobsters!!  I was completely floored by this.  Let me tell you -- for the limited time I have been working with these slipper lobsters, they are tough critters.  As one person calls them, 'Israeli tanks without guns'.  

Mostly dead Mediterranean slipper lobster

The Akko Shuk is truly like going back in time with it's twisting turns, under-ground tunnels and museums (still have not done this), vendors selling spices, fruits, vegetables, shoes, baklava, and one of the best hummus places in Israel -- Hummus Said (yes, we ate lunch there for about $5/person!). 

All in all, a successful day for both research and adventure!

Ehud and me on a tide pool adventure