''Larimichthys polyactis'', called the redlip croaker, small yellow croaker, little yellow croaker or yellow corvina, is a species of
croaker native to the western Pacific, generally in temperate waters such as the
East China Sea and the
Yellow Sea
The Yellow Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. It is one of four seas named after common colour ter ...
.
Evolution
Phylogenomic
Phylogenomics is the intersection of the fields of evolution and genomics. The term has been used in multiple ways to refer to analysis that involves genome data and evolutionary reconstructions. It is a group of techniques within the larger fields ...
studies indicate this species emerged from the same
common ancestor
Common descent is a concept in evolutionary biology applicable when one species is the ancestor of two or more species later in time. All living beings are in fact descendants of a unique ancestor commonly referred to as the last universal comm ...
of ''
L. crocea'' around 25.4 million years ago.
Diet
They are
benthopelagic
The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of ...
feeders that usually eat shrimp,
zooplankton
Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...
, or sometimes small fishes.
Habitat
They remain in shallow waters above 120 m, but avoid brackish conditions. They are typically found where the sea floor is sand or mud.
Morphology
Males can reach 42 cm while the common length is about 30 cm. Their body shape is almost rectangular. They have red lips, grey gold body, gold belly and light yellow fins. The inside of its mouth is white and the gill slit is black. In its head are two hard, pale, white bones that keep balance when they swim, which is also used as a material for medicine. They can make noise by moving their air bladder in order not to scatter.
Behavior
They have a habit of leaping above the sea. In winter, they move to warm water. The breeding season is from March to June. Usually they spawn 30,000 ~ 70,000 eggs.
Relation to humans
Once an abundant commercial fish off the coasts of China, Korea and Japan, its population collapsed in the 1970s due to
overfishing. Global catch later rebounded, with 388,018 t landed in 2008.
Salted and dried, they are a food product known as ''gulbi'' (굴비) in Korean.
Yeonggwang gulbi is a prized delicacy, selling for over $100 a bunch.
References
External links
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{{Taxonbar, from=Q1072528
Sciaenidae
Commercial fish
Fish of the Pacific Ocean
Fish described in 1877
Fish of Korea