こんにちは！D3のMiyaです！
I recently visited Onagawa to help Professor Tanaka and her students with fieldwork on hoya (sea squirts). Their research focuses mainly on cellulose analysis and DNA-based investigations, while my role was to help collect seawater for dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), uranium/thorium (U/Th), and oxygen isotope (δ¹⁸O) analyses. I thought hoya is called sea pineapple, but realized only the commonly-eaten species マボヤ is called sea pineapple.
My first encounter with hoya was a few years ago, when I bought a sea pineapple at a supermarket in Otsuchi. It was my first time eating one, and I dissected it myself to prepare it. Cutting into it felt strangely like cutting into a heart—not that I’ve ever cut into one! This time in Onagawa, I got to see a wider variety of sea squirts as we sorted the different species by hand.
We sampled seawater both inside and outside the aquaculture farm, and the team also collected sediment samples. We even got to enjoy a bite of the fresh ones during sampling!
Alongside the sampling, we sorted different species of hoya by hand, including マボヤ, エボヤ, and 白ボヤ. Working through the specimens gave me a closer look at the variety of sea squirts living in the area—something quite different from my usual work with abalone shells.
One evening, we had dinner with people working at Tohoku University’s Onagawa Field Center, part of the Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Over dinner, they shared their memories of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
One person recalled being on a research cruise with the coastal research center when the earthquake struck. After seeing the tsunami, he decided to sail farther offshore rather than return to land. He and his colleague ended up staying offshore for three days.
Hearing this account directly from someone who experienced it made a strong impression on me. Our visit was centered on collecting samples, but the conversations over dinner also offered a glimpse into the experiences of the people who live and work along this coast.
Thank you to Professor Tanaka, her students, and everyone at the Onagawa Field Center for welcoming me and sharing both their research and their stories. Also thank you Yosuke and Shishi for helping me with preparation and Yusuke for sponsoring the trip!
