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Tai (Sea Bream) Sushi II- Various Sea Breams

Tai / Snapper / Sea bream

White Fish & Salmon

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Perciformes, Sparidae / Others

Tai are fish of the family Sparidae in the order Perciformes; there are 155 species worldwide, 13 of which live in Japan. Japan's Sparidae include red types and black types, but there are also more than 200 species of so-called "ayakari-dai" (look-alike sea breams) that do not belong to the family Sparidae.

"Tai" generally refers to fish of the family Sparidae in the order Perciformes, and various sea breams exist around the world, of which 13 species live in Japan. Many Sparidae are bottom fish, and many species prefer relatively shallow waters and rocky areas. They are hermaphroditic or change sex as they grow; the black sea bream (kurodai), for example, is male when young and becomes female as an adult. There are many fish other than the Sparidae that have "tai" in their name, such as the striped beakfish (ishidai), but as can be seen from the fact that the English family name of the Oplegnathidae, to which the ishidai belongs, differs from that of the Sparidae, these are uniquely Japanese names that borrow from the sea bream's image as an auspicious fish or king of fish; fish called "tai" that are not in the Sparidae are called "ayakari-dai" (look-alike sea breams). Note that outside Japan, the sea bream does not particularly carry an auspicious image. Japan's direct-line Sparidae are divided into red and black types. Red types include the red sea bream (madai), which is the king of the sea breams; the crimson sea bream (chidai), which is slightly more watery than the red sea bream but has beautiful skin; and the yellowback sea bream (kidai), a small species common in western Japan. Black types include the black sea bream (kurodai), which has a pleasant texture, and the goldlined sea bream (hedai), which lacks a shoreline smell because it lives offshore. These all belong to the same family Sparidae and are characterized by a light, refined, unobjectionable flavor. Among the look-alike sea breams outside the Sparidae, the well-known ones include the striped beakfish (ishidai) of the family Oplegnathidae, which has a firm texture, good flavor, and black stripes; the spotted knifejaw (ishigakidai) of the same family Oplegnathidae, which likewise has a firm texture and umami and sweetness with a tropical pattern; the tilefish (amadai) of the family Branchiostegidae, which became a high-class fish when used in Kyoto's wakasa-yaki; and the red snapper (fuedai) of the family Lutjanidae, which has strong umami and conspicuous yellow fins. The splendid alfonsino (kinmedai), with its melting, fatty umami, is also a famous look-alike sea bream, but it is not even a perciform; it is an even more distant fish, of the family Berycidae in the order Beryciformes.

Savoring various sea bream sushi deliciously

When making sea bream into nigiri sushi, the skin is often removed before using the flesh as a topping, but because there is umami in the subcutaneous fat between the skin and the flesh, called "kawagishi," some sushi restaurants quickly pour hot water over the skin-on flesh to blanch it (yubiki) and serve it as nigiri. It is also delicious to cure it with kombu, or to eat it with salt instead of soy sauce.

Relatives of the sea bream living in the Kingdom of Thailand

Long ago, because it resembled the sea bream in shape and taste, tilapia was often used in place of red sea bream at 100-yen sushi restaurants. It is a freshwater fish living in rivers around the world, and in Japan it was farmed under names such as "izumidai" and "chikadai," but it disappeared as labor costs rose and farmed red sea bream increased.
Tilapia is still widely eaten in the Kingdom of Thailand today. This began when Thailand fell into a food crisis and the then crown prince and ichthyologist, the Emperor Emeritus Akihito, presented tilapia and proposed its aquaculture. For this reason, tilapia is called "jin'gyo" or "Pla Nin," and it remains a symbol of Japan-Thailand friendship to this day.