''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 The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. China names the body of water along its eastern coast as "East Sea" (, ) due to direction, the name of "East China Sea" is otherwise ...

and the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea, also known as the North 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. Names It is one of four ...

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. According to modern evolutionary biology, all living beings could be descendants of a unique ancestor commonl ...

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 heterotrophic component of the planktonic community (the " zoo-" prefix comes from ), having to consume other organisms to thrive. Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents. Consequent ...

, 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 to 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 Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing Fish stocks, fish stock), resu ...

. Global catch later rebounded, with 388,018 t landed in 2008. Salted and dried, they are a food product known as ''gulbi'' () in Korean.

Yeonggwang Yeonggwang County (''Yeonggwang-gun'') is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, county in South Jeolla Province, South Korea. Speciality Yeonggwang is a large producer of a fish, the Larimichthys polyactis, small yellow croaker which are so ...

gulbi is a prized delicacy, selling for over $100 a bunch.

Gallery

File:HK 南區 Southern District 香港仔 Aberdeen Centre 南寧街 Nam Ning Street shop 百佳超級市場 ParknShop Supermarket March 2022 Px3 23.jpg, Sold in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

File:Gulbi.png, Korean ''gulbi'' File:Dried yellow croaker (20241102).jpg File:Gulbi (Larimichthys polyactis).jpg File:Gulbi-gui.png

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1072528 polyactis Commercial fish Fish of the Pacific Ocean Fish described in 1877 Fish of Korea