Arctoscopus japonicus

Description

Arctoscopus japonicus, the sailfin sandfish or Japanese sandfish, is a species of fish of the Percomorpha (perch-like) clade in the order Trachiniformes, being one of the two genera in the family Trichodontidae, the sandfishes. Known in Japan as hatahata ( ハタハタ, 鰰, 鱩, 燭魚), it is a commercially important fish especially for Akita and Yamagata prefectures. Its habitat occurs in sandy-mud bottoms ranging from the Sea of Japan to the Okhotsk Sea. As a food source, the fish has mostly been sourced locally from the coastal region of the Sea of Japan, and has been designated the official prefectural fish of Akita Prefecture. The fish, which is scaleless, may be prepared whole as braised or grilled fish, and has a mucilaginous consistency. It is also dried to make stockfish; salted, dried, and made into himono; and cured in miso as misozuke. It is the main ingredient of the fish sauce called shottsuru. The egg masses are known as burikko. In Korean the fish is called 도루묵 dorumuk. The fish had also been used dried or in fish meal form as fertilizer, and shipped to agricultural areas at one time, into the 20th century.