The Japanese eel, Anguilla japonica, is a species of anguillid eel found in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, and Vietnam as well as the northern Philippines. Like all the eels of the genus Anguilla and the family Anguillidae, it is catadromous, meaning it lives parts of its life in both freshwater and saltwater. The spawning area of this species is in the North Equatorial Current in the western North Pacific to the west of the Mariana Islands. The larvae are called leptocephali and are carried westward by the North Equatorial Current and then northward by the Kuroshio Current to East Asia where they live in rivers, lakes and estuaries. The Japanese eel is an important food fish in East Asia where it is raised in aquaculture ponds in most countries in the region. In Japan, where they are called unagi, it is an important part of the food culture, with many restaurants serving grilled eel, which is called kabayaki. Eels also have uses in Chinese medicine.
Read more about Japanese Eel: Life History and Habitat, Commercial Fisheries, Sustainable Consumption
Famous quotes containing the word japanese:
“A pragmatic race, the Japanese appear to have decided long ago that the only reason for drinking alcohol is to become intoxicated and therefore drink only when they wish to be drunk.
So I went out into the night and the neon and let the crowd pull me along, walking blind, willing myself to be just a segment of that mass organism, just one more drifting chip of consciousness under the geodesics.”
—William Gibson (b. 1948)