【Reading】ほっきがい

【English Name】Surf clam

The official Japanese name of the hokkigai is "ubagai" (Sakhalin surf clam), a kind of bivalve belonging to the family Mactridae. In the seafood market the name "hokkigai" is established, and in the Ainu language it has been called "poksei" or "tsutsureppu."

Its range extends from the Pacific coast north of the Kashima Sea and Toyama Prefecture across all of Hokkaido and even to the coasts of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Preferring fine-sand bottoms from near the low-tide line to depths around 20 m, it takes 4-6 years to grow to the harvestable size of 7-8 cm in shell length. It is long-lived, with individuals confirmed to live over 30 years.

The shell shape is an oval-ish triangle, and the periostracum color changes in stages with growth: white just after hatching, increasingly yellowish in the juvenile stage, and deepening to yellow-brown and dark-brown as it matures. In the fishery, dredge nets are mainstream, and the clams are landed by jetting high-pressure water at the seabed to lift the clams up out of the sand.

While nigiri and sashimi are the royal road as sushi toppings, the cooking range is wide—breaded and deep-fried as fry, sautéed in butter, or dressed with vinegar in small dishes. On the Pacific side of Hokkaido and Tohoku, the mixed rice "hokki-meshi" starring the hokkigai is known as a dish rooted in the region. Nutritionally it is rich in amino acids such as glycine and alanine. Also, a considerable number of frozen products on the domestic market are imported processed goods made from the related nagaubagai (Stimpson surf clam) from the Atlantic coast of Canada.