Ray survey Ray survey dataThe majority of the marine habitat of the Israeli waters consists of soft-bottom habitats. Invertebrate communities inhabit the soft bottom of the sediment (epifauna) or in it (infauna). Environmental conditions, predation and competition control these communities. Among the predators are fish which are well adapted to living in the demersal zone on the sediment and above it. The ray fishes (superorder Batoidea) are some of the…

The blackchin guitarfish (Glaucostegus cemiculus) was listed as ‘endangered’ species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, and was elevated to ‘critically endangered’ as of 2019. There have been observations of juvenile and neonate guitarfish along our shores, namely Ma’agan Michael, so a research project, the first of its kind, was initiated by the Marine Apex Predators laboratory in 2017. Their objectives were: Provide non-existent baseline data, at a local scale Verifying which species dominates our coastline: since Rhinobatus rhinobatus and G. cemiculus co-exist in Israeli territorial waters and morphological identification is problematic, there is a need to identify and establish which species is present in Ma’agan Michael through taxonomic means. Nursery ground verification: investigate whether Ma’agan Michael is utilized as a nursery ground according to the accepted criteria, and to compare it to other locations along the Israeli coastline.  With this substantial knowledge gap in the basic biological and ecological data, conservation efforts cannot be made to protect these species.  In order to better understand and protect these species, critical habitats need to be defined.

Shark tagging Shark tagging dataThe eastern Mediterranean Sea is an ultraoligotrophic water body that is also experiencing the most severe effects of climate change. However, marine predators are still present in this basin, and researchers do not understand why they aggregate in certain locations, at certain times of the year. At its furthermost reach, Israel is the only country that protects all elasmobranch species within its maritime borders. Since 2016,…

Coastal dolphins - passive acoustic monitoring Survey dataPresence/absence data of toothed whales or dolphins along Israel's Mediterranean coast. Acoustic receivers (C-pod/F) were moored in the north ( Nahariya was later relocated to Achziv), center (Dor & Poleg), and south (Ashkelon) regions on top of the "sea guard" shipwreck, at water depths of 20m that later relocated to 45m, 45m & 20m, and 27m, respectively. In addition, both fish farms in…