【Reading】きびなご

【English Name】Silver-stripe round herring

Kibinago (silver-stripe round herring) is a small saltwater fish belonging to the order Clupeiformes, family Clupeidae (kibinago family), with adults reaching a body length of about 10 cm. Its body shape is slender, close to a spindle form, and an eye-catching wide silver band runs along the side of the body, with a thin bluish band running parallel on its upper side, which is its visual characteristic. Its scales are extremely prone to shedding and are almost entirely lost during the process of fishing and landing.

It inhabits widely in the warm waters from the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific, and in Japan it is seen along the coasts south of central Honshu. It prefers clear coastal waters, has the habit of forming large schools and migrating, and feeds mainly on zooplankton. Its lifespan is said to be about half a year to one year. The spawning season in the waters of western Japan spans roughly April to November. Unlike many Clupeiformes fish that lay pelagic eggs, this species has a distinctive mode of reproduction in which it lays demersal eggs attached by mucus to the sand of shallows.

As a sushi topping, it falls into the category of hikari-mono (shiny-skinned fish). Highly fresh ones are eaten as sashimi together with sumiso (vinegared miso), and it is also used for salt-grilling and processing into niboshi (dried small fish). It is a local ingredient long beloved in Kyushu and the Nansei Islands region, beginning with Kagoshima Prefecture. In addition, it is also an important species serving as live bait in bonito fishing.