Kumba japonica is a species of rattail

Rattail

Grenadiers or rattails are generally large, brown to black gadiform marine fish of the family Macrouridae...

. It is found at depths of up to 710 m in the waters around Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

 and southern 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...

.

This fish reaches a length of up to 18 cm. Its main diagnostic features are its very short snout and three black spots at the base of the anal fin. Unlike many rattails and other deep-water fish, the bones of the head are firm.