The hatahata is known as the fish of Akita and was officially designated as its Prefectural Fish in 2002.
As for the origin of its name, one theory claims that it is derived from the occurrence of violent thunder, which used to be called “hatahatagami”; these fish come to the shores of the Sea of Japan around the same time as the hatahatagami occur in early winter. Another theory advances that hatahata means “lots of waves” in Chinese, since fishermen tend to catch an abundance when the waves are high.
While hatahata live mostly in the Sea of Japan, they can also be found in the Sea of Okhotsk. Along the coasts of the Oga peninsula, female hatahata, mostly three to four years old, lay eggs (called “buriko”) in early December on Hondawara seaweed located1.5 to 2.5 meters underwater. Those eggs spawn in sixty days and many newly hatched hatahata appear in February and March.
