Common name: Black surfperch, Butterlips, Black perch, Japanese sea-perch, Sea chub, Temminck’s surfperch

Japanese name: Umitanago (海鱮)

Chinese common name: 海鲫、九九鱼、海鱮、福鲫

Scientific name: Ditrema temmincki Bleeker, 1853

Nigiri sushi detail: Black surfperch (Umitanago) Nigiri sushi

Characteristics:

Black surfperch (Umitanago) is distributed throughout Japan south of Hokkaido and along the coast of the southern Korean Peninsula. It inhabits coastal seaweed bed and reef areas, but Akatanago is found deeper. The body length is about 25 cm. Its body is laterally flattened like that of the Red seabream (Tai), and its head is small. There are two body colors: the one called Ma-tanago has a pale blackish-blue dorsal side and a silvery-white ventral side; the Akatanago is reddish-brown with numerous brown longitudinal stripes.

Its flesh is soft and has many small bones, making it unsuitable for sashimi, but it is delicious when boiled. Umitanago are one of the unused fish, which are discarded or returned to the sea because of their small size, lack of quantity, or inability to fetch a price in the market.

---

Share this article