Common name: Coral rockfish, Fiery rockfish

Japanese name: Sankomenuke (珊瑚目抜、三公目抜)

Scientific name: Sebastes flammeus (Jordan & Starks, 1904)

Nigiri sushi detail: Coral rockfish (Sankomenuke) Nigiri sushi

Characteristics:

Coral rockfish (Sankomenuke) is distributed north of Sagami Bay and in Hokkaido. It lives on the seafloor at depths of 200 to 500 meters. The length of the body reaches 50 cm. Its body color is a uniform red with golden tints.

Sankomenuke resembles the closely related Angry rockfish (Oosaga), but this species is characterized by a black mouth and a black spot on the margin near the center of the dorsal fin. It is caught by bottom trawling and other fisheries, but the catch is the smallest of all Menuke species. Fresh Sankomenuke can be served as sashimi. It can also be grilled or simmered. In addition to fresh fish, it is also kasuzuke (pickled in sake lees). Its taste is said to surpass that of Angry rockfish (Oosaga).

Beniakou is an angler’s term and officially refers to two species: Angry rockfish (Oosaga) and Coral rockfish (Sankomenuke).