Scientifically known as the
cololabis saira
Dry Biological Information: (NOTE: If you are not particularly interested in the
daily life of a fish, perhaps you should skip down to the next part where I have some
good bits about how you eat this good?) A fish found from 19 degrees to 58 degrees
latitude and in the
Pacific Ocean. It is generally found on the
surface of the water, but may be found as deep as 125 fm. They live in temperatures from between 50 degrees and 75 degrees
Farenheit (10-24 degrees
Centigrade) but seem to prefer temperatures in the 59-64 degrees
Farenheit (15-18 degrees
Centigrade) range.
The saury diet consists of
copepods,
euphausiids, and
amphipods, and
anchovy larvae. The maximum size found for this fish is 364 mm and the maximum age is guessed to be around 6.4 years. The average pacific saury lays about 10,000 to 20,000 during their lifetime, and the average egg hatches after about 10 days. They hatch in an
advanced state of maturity, and many scientists think this may compensate for the rather low rate of eggs compared to similar
fish.
This fish migrates to the
north in the
spring and
summer, and
south in the
fall and
winter, following their favorite water temperatures.
The good bit about eating this fish: The pacific saury is also known as
sanma in
Japan. The three
kanji for
sanma are the ones for
autumn,
katana, and
fish. The first represents the fact that this fish is most abundant in
autumn, and is considered tastiest during this season. The second represents the fact that this fish is very
shiny, much like a
katana is
shiny. The third represents the fact that this fish is...well, a
fish.
From here on out, I will refer to the pacific saury as
sanma, because that is the name
my belly knows it as.
Sanma is considered by many (including myself) to be the most tasty out of all
sashimi. This
sashimi is best when served with some sliced
spring onions and a drop or two of
soy sauce (three and you're pushing it...four and you
defile the fish). Some also serve it with
daikon oroshi, but I consider that to be a luxury.
Prepare this fish the way you would prepare normal sashimi. Skin it, gut it, fillet it, and chop the fillets into little pieces. Serve as I have described above, and enjoy this
king of sashimi! Remember that fish that is going to be eaten as sashimi should always be
packed in ice and not
frozen.
Sanma is also eaten grilled. While tasty, I do not find this nearly as delicious as sanma served as
sashimi.
Other interesting bits of info: This
fish was also the
main ingredient on an episode of
Iron Chef. It was between
Kazumi Nagayama and
Iron Chef French Hiroyuki Sakai.
Iron Chef French won, even though sanma is not an ingredient in
French cuisine.
Biological info on the fish was taken from http://www.hmsc.orst.edu/odfw/devfish/sp/saury.html. Information on eating sanma was taken from my mouth and my belly, my two favorite sources for such information.