Common name: Japanese scaled sardine, Japanese sardinella, Japanese shad, Scaled sardine

Japanese name: Mamakari (ママカリ), Sappa (拶双魚)

Taiwan common name: 錘氏小沙丁魚、錘氏小沙丁、青鱗仔、鰮仔、沙丁魚、扁仔、扁鰮

Scientific name: Sardinella zunasi (Bleeker, 1854)

Nigiri sushi detail: Japanese scaled sardine (Mamakari) Nigiri sushi

Characteristics:

Japanese scaled sardine (Mamakari) is distributed south of Hokkaido, the Yellow Sea, and Taiwan. It is especially abundant in Tokyo Bay and the Seto Inland Sea. It mainly inhabits sandy muddy bottoms near the mouths of inner bays. The body length is 8-15 cm. Mamakari resembles the Gizzard shad (Konoshiro) but can be distinguished from it by the lack of filamentous extension of the posterior-most soft ray of the dorsal fin.

Like other species of herring, it has many small bones and is easy to eat when pickled in vinegar. Mamakari-zushi is an indispensable part of festivals and family celebrations and is a typical Okayama dish. Incidentally, it is often called Mamakari in Western Japan and Zappa in Kanto.

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