【Reading】いぼだい

【English Name】Japanese Butterfish

The ibodai (Pacific rudderfish, Psenopsis anomala) is a white-fleshed fish of the family Centrolophidae living along the warm coasts of East Asia. Its body is oval and flat with a silvery-gray color, and the brownish spot on the upper part of the gill cover, said to resemble the scar from moxa cautery, is the origin of its name. Adults reach about 30 cm in total length, but those around 20 cm are mainstream at market. It grows to about 13 cm in one year and about 20 cm in three years. Its season is summer to autumn; though light in flavor, it carries a moderate amount of fat and the flesh separates cleanly from the bone. In sushi it is served as nigiri with the skin side seared, and it is also known from "bouze no sugata-zushi," a local dish of Tokushima Prefecture.