Yellowtail Amberjack

The yellowtail amberjack is a migratory fish that occurs in the twilight zone. It is about 120cm in length, stretching to 2.5m maximum. A yellowtail amberjack the size of 1.55m, weighing 32 kg was caught in a set of pound nets in Yui area of Okinoshima Town in 2008. The fish is often caught using pound nets and a method called shiira-tsuke¬. Shiira-tsuke is a method that takes advantage of the habit of mahi mahi and other migratory fish, where the school gathers around floating objects in the sea. Tsuke is a manmade bamboo float, and fish gathering around the float are caught using a net. Compared to the Japanese amberjack, it is more flat on the sides (fillet), the body is longer and straighter, and its yellow stripe runs parallel like a straight grain (masa in Japanese), gaining the fish its Japanese name, hiramasa.