notes from Japan - a photo essay

Well hello good people.  I thought i'd post these photos, that i also posted in a tumblr over here.  Please visit that site for other interesting stories from our NSF group, the EAPSI Fellowship.  Meanwhile, my photos:

Islands in the Sea of Japan

A man carves tuna flank (maguro) at the Hakata Fish Market, one of the large fish markets found at several ports around Japan.  The flanks in the case behind him are samples of his handiwork from earlier that morning.  The big white flat part of the tuna is "toro", the most expensive and highly sought after part of the tuna.  Training to be a tuna carver is a lifetime of work, a highly skilled position and clearly not for those shy around knives and blood.  I only realized after watching him for a few minutes that he was working

rather effortlessly, whereas had i been wielding the knife i certainly would have lopped off one of my own limbs or appendages in a second.

Jellyfish salad served for lunch.  Jellyfish is commercially harvested and consumed in Japan, China and other Asian countries.  The salad is made from our species of study, Rhopilema esculentum.

A live specimen of the rhizostome jellyfish Rhopilema esculentum, next to my boot for size.  The jelly was dipped out of the water by our fishermen captain guides who were taking us to see the fishing grounds, vessels and processing plants.  This individual is relatively small for the species.

Freshly caught Rhopilema esculentum on a fishing vessel.  Live jellyfish are cleaned and various body parts separated for processing on land.  Umbrellas are the oval shapes in buckets on the right side
of the image.  Oral arms and rhopalia (the dangly bits that hang down from the jellyfish) are in the bucket at the left, encased in a net. Oral arms of this species are the prized flesh, selling for the
highest price on the market.  More large umbrella parts are stored in the hold, under the deck of the ship.  The lid of one of the holds is open at the left showing a tiny glimpse of some of the day's harvest.

The R/V Toyoshio Maru, the research vessel belonging to Hiroshima University, anchored in the Ariake Sea.  Many vessels in Japan bear the name "Maru" at the end - it refers to a "child's toilet".  Apparently, by including the name of something rather unpleasant, the bad spirits are warded off and its a sort of good luck charm.  This only reinforces my previously held stereotype that sailors the world over are a superstitious crowd.  A jellyfish fishing boat has tethered to the ship to give us a chance to see their catch for the day.

The jovial proprietor of a jellyfish processing plant ashore near Saga.  Fresh jellyfish catch is cured in alum for up to 2 weeks, dehydrating the flesh to a less watery state more suitable for culinary use and shipping.  From there, the jellyfish meat will be packed and shipped to China, in this case.  The man is standing next to a tank of oral arms - the most valuable and palatable part of the edible jellyfish.  This species is especially lucrative and has a dark red color to the oral arms.

A full size Rhopilema esculentum individual.  The fate of this individual was not for the dinner plate but for scientific pursuit: our team needed weights and measures of the different body parts to be able to assess biomass (amount of organic material) from commercial statistics of commercial catch.  When R. esculentum becomes stressed, it often sheds tentacles and mucous as can be seen in the tank.  This was the only full size specimen our crew collected in two days of searching; but we did see an almost constant supply of broken off tentacles in the waters surrounding the vessel.  We speculated that fishing efforts in the bay probably captured most of the individuals, leaving only tentacles and few intact individuals to float by our deck.

 Another species of "jellyfish", this one less conventional in appearance.  Its Porpita porpita, or Blue Button (in Japanese, the common name translates to something like "Coin Jellyfish").  This species belongs to a different taxonomic class than the animals most commonly thought of as jellyfish with an umbrella and tentacles dangling below it.  P. porpita still posess stinging cells, but they aren't usually so harmful to humans.

The "late" auction at Hakata Fish Market, 4:15 am.  The first auction starts at 3 am with tuna.  The buyers all wear red caps, the auctioneers and market workers are in white.  Also visible is one of the fishermen, in blue-green overalls:  fisherpeople drive their boat up to a dock just underneath where we're standing, unload their fresh catch, and wait to negotiate with the market workers before heading back out in their boats.  In this photo, the auctioneer is reaching toward one of the fish boxes in the middle; what you can't see is that he's screaming at the top of his lungs.  The ordeal for the buying and selling this lot of fish is over in just a few minutes.

Also, i've posted loads more photos over here.  Lemme know if you want an explanation for any of those!  Lots to look at.