Aodai (English name) Japanese snapper

A marine fish belonging to the order Perciformes and family Lutjanidae of the class Osteichthyes. It is found in the Ogasawara Islands, the waters off Misaki in Kanagawa Prefecture, the Izu Islands, Minamidaito Island, off the coast of Wakayama Prefecture, off the coast of Kochi Prefecture, the Palau Ridge, the Tokara Islands, the Nansei Islands, Taiwan, and the Dongsha Islands. Its body is elliptical and slightly laterally compressed, with no protruding back of the head. Its mouth is small, and the front end of its upper jaw does not extend further than the front end of its lower jaw. Its body is a beautiful purple-blue color, and the underside of its head and abdomen are silvery white. It usually has 10 soft rays on its dorsal fin, with the last soft ray not extending long, a characteristic of this species. Besides the Japanese blue porgy, four other species are known from Japan: the Japanese blue porgy, the striped blue porgy, the blue-spotted blue porgy, and the Yanbaru striped blue porgy P. stonei . The Japanese blue porgy is different from the Japanese blue porgy in that the rear edge of the tail fin is deeply forked and there is no notch in the middle, the striped blue porgy is different from the Japanese blue porgy in that the main maxilla has no scales, and the Yanbaru striped blue porgy has no brown horizontal stripes on the side of the body. It reaches a total length of 50 cm. It lives in colonies on rocky reefs at depths of 100 to 350 meters and is caught by deep-sea longline fishing and single-line fishing. It is caught in large quantities in the Amami Islands and Okinawa Islands, and is an important food fish in the fishing industry, and is traded as a high-class fish in Tokyo. The flesh is white with a pale pink tinge and is delicious when eaten raw, grilled, or boiled.

[Masato Akasaki and Kunio Amano, April 18, 2017]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

硬骨魚綱スズキ目フエダイ科に属する海水魚。小笠原(おがさわら)諸島、神奈川県三崎(みさき)近海、伊豆諸島、南大東島、和歌山県沖、高知県沖、パラオ海嶺(かいれい)、吐噶喇(とから)列島、南西諸島、台湾、東沙(とうさ)群島などに分布する。体は楕円(だえん)形でやや側扁(そくへん)し、後頭部は膨出しない。口は小さく、上顎(じょうがく)の前端は下顎の前端よりも前に出ない。体は美しい紫青色で、頭の下面と腹部は銀白色である。普通は背びれ軟条が10本で、最後の軟条は長く伸長しないのがこの類の特徴である。日本からアオダイ以外にウメイロ、シマアオダイ、ヨゴレアオダイ、ヤンバルシマアオダイP. stoneiの4種が知られているが、尾びれの後縁は深く二叉(にさ)し、中央部に欠刻（切れ込み）がないことでウメイロおよびヨゴレアオダイと、主上顎骨に鱗(うろこ)がないことでシマアオダイと、そして体側に褐色横帯がないことでヤンバルシマアオダイと異なる。全長50センチメートルに達する。水深100～350メートルの岩礁域に群生し、深海延縄(はえなわ)や一本釣りによって漁獲される。奄美(あまみ)諸島や沖縄諸島では漁獲量が多く、水産業上重要な食用魚で、東京都では高級魚として取引される。肉は淡紅色を帯びた白身で、刺身、焼き物、煮物にすると美味である。

［赤崎正人・尼岡邦夫　2017年4月18日］

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