Largescale blackfish
(Girella punctata)

Body oblong. Mouth small, not extending posteriorly beyond eye; upper lip thin; maxilla covered by suborbital; outer teeth in jaws mostly tricupsid incisors. Single dorsal fin with XIV to XV spines and 12 to 15 soft rays; anal fin with III spines and 11-13 soft rays (usually 12); pelvic fins inserted just under or distinctly just posterior to pectoral-fin base; caudal fin broadly forked.

Scales small, ctenoid, extending onto cheeks and upper part of opercles, and bases of dorsal and anal fins but not covering most of soft portion of dorsal and anal fins. Lateral line scales 50-56.

Body uniformly dark bluish grey to greenish grey above and silvery below; posterior margin of opercle not black; each scales on body with garker dots on middle or base.

Northwest Pacific: southern Hokkaido southward (except the Ryukyu Islands) to Japan, Taiwan and the East China Sea.

Max length : 50 cm TL