Common name: Spotnape ponyfish, Silver ponyfish, Slimy, Soapy

Japanese name: Hiiragi (柊、柊魚)

Taiwan common name: 項斑項鰏、金錢仔、兵葉仔 (澎湖)、方葉仔 (澎湖)

Scientific name: Nuchequula nuchalis (Temminck and Schlegel,1845)

Nigiri sushi detail: Spotnape ponyfish (Hiiragi) Nigiri sushi

Characteristics:

Spotnape ponyfish (Hiiragi) is distributed south of central Honshu, southern Korea, Taiwan, and the coast of China, excluding the Ryukyu Islands. It inhabits sandy muddy areas from shallow water in inner bays to brackish water in estuaries. The body color is silvery white with black spots on the back of the head and the anterior portion of the dorsal spine.

Japanese whiting (Kisu) anglers can catch them mixed in with other Japanese whiting. However, we have not heard of spotnape ponyfish (Hiiragi) fishing, so it may be that they are not caught in large numbers. Because the bones are hard and the flesh is thin, it takes a lot of effort to eat them, but they are delicious when made into nigiri sushi. It is not available at sushi restaurants in Tokyo, but it can be found at local sushi restaurants.

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