is a bay located within

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the eas ...

, in the northern

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku reta ...

of northern Japan. It has an east-west distance of approximately and a north-south distance of approximately at its eastern end, with a total area of approximately .

Names

''Mutsu Bay'' is the dominant English term used in English for the body of water; however it has historically been referred to as the ''Gulf of Mutsu''. The Japanese name for the body of water is .

Geography

It is bordered by the

Tsugaru Peninsula The is a peninsula in Aomori Prefecture, at the northern end of Honshū island, Japan. The peninsula projects north into the Tsugaru Strait separating Honshū from Hokkaidō. The western coast is on the Sea of Japan, while on its eastern coast ...

to the west, the Shimokita Peninsula to the east and north, with an east-west distance of approximately and a north-south distance of approximately at its eastern end, with a total area of approximately . The outlet of the bay is the wide Tairadate Strait which connects Mutsu Bay to the

Tsugaru Strait The is a strait between Honshu and Hokkaido in northern Japan connecting the Sea of Japan with the Pacific Ocean. It was named after the western part of Aomori Prefecture. The Seikan Tunnel passes under it at its narrowest point 12.1 miles (1 ...

separating the islands of

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island se ...

and

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The lar ...

. The bay has an average depth of to , with a maximum depth of near its outlet to the Tsugaru Strait. Mutsu Bay includes

Aomori Bay The is a bay located north of the island of Honshu, in Japan. It is considered to be part of the larger Mutsu Bay. Geography Aomori Bay is an inner bay located to the west of Natsudomari Peninsula that protrudes in the center of the southern coa ...

in the southwest, Noheji Bay in the southeast and Ōminato Bay to the northeast.

Resources

Economically, the shallow waters of the bay are an important fishery, with the cultivation of scallops predominating. Other products commercially harvested include Sea cucumber,

Olive flounder The olive flounder (''Paralichthys olivaceus''), bastard halibut or Japanese halibut, is a temperate marine species of large-tooth flounder native to the North-western Pacific Ocean. It is often referred to as the Japanese flatfish or Korean fla ...

and

Ascidiacea Ascidiacea, commonly known as the ascidians, tunicates (in part), and sea squirts (in part), is a polyphyletic class in the subphylum Tunicata of sac-like marine invertebrate filter feeders. Ascidians are characterized by a tough outer "tunic" ...

. The fisheries were severely damaged by the 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer heat waves. In the year 2002, the Ministry of the Environment classified some

tidal flat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...

s of the eastern Mutsu Bay shoreline to be one of the 500 Important Wetlands in Japan.

Pacific white-sided dolphin The Pacific white-sided dolphin (''Lagenorhynchus obliquidens''), also known as the hookfin porpoise, is an active dolphin found in the cool or temperate waters of the North Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy The Pacific white-sided dolphin was named by Sm ...

s are regular migrants into the bay annually, and

whale watching Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins (cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity (cf. birdwatching), but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes.Hoyt, E. 2 ...

and surveys using ferries have been conducted.Kiyokawa H.. 2016
Study on the Migratory Behavior of Pacific White-Sided Dolphin Lagenorhynchus obliquidens in The Mutsu Bay, Aomori Prefecture
(pdf). Journal of

Aomori University is a private university located in the city of Aomori, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the ...

Multidisciplinary Research Institute. Vol.17, No.2, pp.12-25. Retrieved on March 25, 2017

Gallery

File:Aomori Bay Asamushi Onsen Japan02bs5.jpg, Mutsu Bay from Asamushi Onsen File:Mutsu bay 陸奥湾 (2973091461).jpg, Mutsu Bay File:Aomori Bay 17-Sept-2018 p2.jpg, The southern part of Mutsu Bay as seen from the air over the Tsugaru Peninsula. Aomori Bay is in the center of the photograph with Noheji Bay in the top left corner.

References

Notes

{{Authority control Bays of Japan Tourist attractions in Aomori Prefecture Landforms of Aomori Prefecture Mutsu, Aomori Aomori (city) Yokohama, Aomori Noheji, Aomori Hiranai, Aomori Sotogahama, Aomori