Purple hakeling

A marine fish belonging to the family Gadidae of the class Osteichthyes. It is also called Higeidara. In Japan, it is found along the Sea of ​​Japan coast south of Niigata Prefecture and along the Pacific coast south of the Tohoku region, as well as the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula, the east coast to the southwest coast of Australia, Norfolk Island, and Lord Howe Island. Its head is rounded and it has one long barbel at the tip of its lower jaw. Its body is slightly elongated and laterally compressed toward the rear. It has two dorsal fins and one anal fin, and the base of the second dorsal fin is shorter than the base of the anal fin. Its body is purple-black. Its body length is about 30 centimeters. It lives in the deep sea and feeds on krill, mysids, and small benthic animals, but young fish are sometimes caught in shallow waters. It is caught with motorized bottom trawls and deep-sea longlines. It looks very similar to the closely related Pseudoara genus and the Hokkaido rockfish, but can be easily distinguished by the fact that the anal fin of the Hokkaido rockfish starts much further back than the second dorsal fin.

[Tsuru Okamura and Kunio Amioka November 17, 2015]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

硬骨魚綱タラ目チゴダラ科に属する海水魚。ヒゲダラともよぶ。日本では新潟県以南の日本海沿岸および東北地方以南の太平洋岸、そのほかでは朝鮮半島南岸、オーストラリア東岸から南西岸、ノーフォーク島、ロード・ハウ島に分布する。頭は丸みを帯び、下あごの先端に1本の長いひげがある。体はやや延長し、後方に向かって側扁(そくへん)する。背びれ2基、臀(しり)びれ1基で、第2背びれの基底は臀びれの基底より短い。体は紫黒色。体長30センチメートル内外。深海性で、オキアミ類、アミ類、小形の底生動物などを捕食するが、幼魚は浅海で採捕されることもある。機船底引網や深海延縄(はえなわ)で漁獲される。近縁のチゴダラ属のチゴダラとエゾイソアイナメに外見がよく似るが、イソアイナメの臀びれの起部は第2背びれの起部よりもかなり後方から始まることで容易に区別できる。

［岡村　收・尼岡邦夫　2015年11月17日］

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