Sunfish - Sunfish

Japanese: マンボウ - まんぼう

This marine fish belongs to the family Mola, order Tetraodontiformes, class Osteichthyes. It can be found in various places south of Hokkaido, and is distributed in temperate and tropical seas around the world. Its body is strongly laterally compressed and elliptical. Its dorsal and anal fins are opposite each other at the rear of the body. It does not have a true caudal fin, but has a rudder fin (clavus), but does not have the bone that supports the caudal fin found in other fish. It also does not have a pelvic fin. The teeth on both jaws are fused together to form a beak, and there are two tooth plates on each of the upper and lower jaws. The dorsal side of the body and fins are dark brown, and the ventral side is white. It reaches a body length of four meters and a weight of one and a half tonnes.

It usually swims alone in the open ocean, living between the surface and a depth of 360 meters. It sometimes floats horizontally on the surface of the ocean, which is said to be the sunfish's nap. It is said that this is to remove parasites or when it is sick, but there is also a theory that it is simply resting. It eats jellyfish and small crustaceans. An eel-like leptocephalus has been found in its stomach. It is famous for laying large amounts of eggs, and there is a record of a female 1.24 meters long carrying 300 million eggs. It is known to undergo remarkable metamorphosis, and when young, it has a round body with many long spines on its surface, which recede as it grows, and its height becomes shorter. It is caught in large quantities in fixed nets in various places along the coast of Japan in summer. Its meat is white and soft, with a mild taste similar to that of squid.

[Keiichi Matsuura]

Folklore

The sunfish, written as "manpo", was also called "ukiki" (floating turtle) or "ukigi" (floating log). This fish sometimes floats on the surface of the sea as if taking a nap, and when it does so it can be caught without any trouble and is delicious, so when fishermen find one, they are overjoyed and spear it with a harpoon. In particular, in Boso (Chiba Prefecture) and Kishu (Wakayama Prefecture), there is a legend that this is a gift from the gods as a reward for their daily efforts, and once a sunfish is brought on board, the skin is peeled off and the meat is taken so as not to lose its shape, and the skin is put back on and it is returned to the surface of the sea. Other fishing boats, unaware of this, are overjoyed and spear it with their harpoons again, which makes them angry, but this is not just a prank by fishermen; in the past, after the meat was taken, the fish was stuffed with rice and purified with sake to return it to its original shape, so the idea that it was a fish given by the gods was still alive. Additionally, in Kishu, there is a superstition that if you bring home an intact sunfish, you will give birth to deformed children.

The meat of the sunfish is mild, like that of shrimp, and was said to be so delicious that in the Mito domain during the Edo period, any sunfish caught was always presented to the feudal lord, and its liver oil was also highly valued as a medicine.

[Kenichi Yano]

"Fish Folklore" by Kenichi Yano (1981, Yuzankaku Publishing)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

硬骨魚綱フグ目マンボウ科に属する海水魚。北海道以南の各地でみられ、世界中の温帯・熱帯域の海に分布する。体は強く側扁(そくへん)し、楕円(だえん)形を呈する。背びれと臀(しり)びれは、体の後方で対在する。真の尾びれはなく、舵(かじ)びれclavusがあるが、ほかの魚にある尾びれを支える骨はない。腹びれもない。両顎(りょうがく)の歯はそれぞれ癒合して嘴(くちばし)状となり、上顎と下顎にそれぞれ2枚の歯板がある。体の背側とひれは暗褐色、腹側は白い。体長は4メートル、体重は1トン半に達する。

　通常は外洋を単独で遊泳し、表層から水深360メートルの間に生息する。マンボウの昼寝といわれるように海面に横になって浮かんでいることもある。これは寄生虫を落とすためとか、病気で体調の悪いときであるとかいわれているが、単に休息しているだけという説もある。クラゲ類、小形の甲殻類などを食べる。胃の中からウナギ類のレプトセファルスが発見されたこともある。大量の卵を産むことで有名で、体長1.24メートルの雌が3億個の卵をもっていたという記録がある。著しい変態をすることで知られ、幼期には体は丸く、表面に多数の長い棘(とげ)があり、成長すると棘は退縮し、体高も低くなる。夏には日本沿岸の各地の定置網でかなり漁獲される。肉は白くて柔らかく、イカの肉に似て淡泊な味がする。

［松浦啓一］

民俗

翻車魚、満方と書き、ウキキ（浮亀）、ウキギ（浮木）ともよばれた。この魚はときどき海面に昼寝をするように浮かぶが、このときのマンボウはなんの苦もなくとらえることができ、また美味なので、漁師はこれを発見すると大喜びして銛(もり)で突く。とくに房総（千葉県）や紀州（和歌山県）では、これを神が日ごろの労をねぎらって授けてくれたものとする言い伝えがあり、船上に一度引き揚げたマンボウを形を崩さないように皮をはいで肉をとり、ふたたび皮をつけて海面に返す。そうとは知らないほかの漁船が大喜びしてまた銛で突き、腹をたてることになるが、これは漁師のいたずらばかりではなく、かつては肉をとったあとに米を詰めて酒で清め、元の姿に戻したということから、神が与えてくれた魚という観念が生きていたのであろう。また紀州では、姿のままのマンボウを家へ持ち帰ると、異形の子供が生まれるという迷信もある。

　マンボウの肉はエビのように淡泊で、江戸時代の水戸藩では、とれるとかならず領主に献じたほど美味といわれ、肝油も薬として珍重された。

［矢野憲一］

『矢野憲一著『魚の民俗』（1981・雄山閣出版）』

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