Japanese amberjack
Encyclopedia
The Japanese amberjack or yellowtail, Seriola quinqueradiata, is a fish
in the family Carangidae
. It is native to the northwest Pacific, from Japan
to Hawaii
.
It is greatly appreciated in Japan, where it is called hamachi or buri (鰤). These hamachi or buri are often used in the Japanese food sushi
. They are also eaten cooked and are a seasonal favourite in the colder months when the meat must have higher fat content.
Some of the fish consumed are caught wild, but a substantial amount is farmed (about 120,000 tonnes per year). To populate the farms, every May, farmers fish for the small wild fry (called mojako), which can be found under floating seaweed
. They scoop out the seaweed together with the mojako and put the mojako in cages in the sea.
The small fry are grown until they reach 10 to 50 grams in mass. They are then sold to farmers, who grow them until they reach 3 kilograms called hamachi, or 5 kilograms called buri. These days, most farmers use extruded pellets to feed the fish.
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
in the family Carangidae
Carangidae
Carangidae is a family of fish which includes the jacks, pompanos, jack mackerels, and scads.They are marine fish found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans...
. It is native to the northwest Pacific, from Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
.
It is greatly appreciated in Japan, where it is called hamachi or buri (鰤). These hamachi or buri are often used in the Japanese food sushi
Sushi
is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients . Neta and forms of sushi presentation vary, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is shari...
. They are also eaten cooked and are a seasonal favourite in the colder months when the meat must have higher fat content.
Some of the fish consumed are caught wild, but a substantial amount is farmed (about 120,000 tonnes per year). To populate the farms, every May, farmers fish for the small wild fry (called mojako), which can be found under floating seaweed
Seaweed
Seaweed is a loose, colloquial term encompassing macroscopic, multicellular, benthic marine algae. The term includes some members of the red, brown and green algae...
. They scoop out the seaweed together with the mojako and put the mojako in cages in the sea.
The small fry are grown until they reach 10 to 50 grams in mass. They are then sold to farmers, who grow them until they reach 3 kilograms called hamachi, or 5 kilograms called buri. These days, most farmers use extruded pellets to feed the fish.