Dolphon's frame

There are about 11 species of dolphins appearing in Korea, and the most commonly observed species are Bottlenose Dolphin and Common Dolphin. As Bottlenose Dolphins are easy to keep in an aquarium, they are usually seen in a show. But Common Dolphin lacks adaptability to changes in environment, they are hard to keep. Finless Porpoise is sometimes observed.

Herring king

'It is like a big cutlass fish, has a double-structure jaw and 5 horizontal lined bumps on the body. They live in the deep sea of the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, and come to the surface when there is a problem in the body or the life comes to an end. That it lives in the mountain for 15 days a month and in the sea for the last 15 days a month or that it is a miracle cure for leprosy is not scientific fact.

King devilfish

It is also called as Manta ray. The body length is from 2.5m to maximum 6m, and the weight is from 500kg to maximum 1.5t. The appearance is a diamond shape. The body is wide and even, but the width is longer than the body length. It has 1 poisoned needle at the back and has no anal fin. It is a live-bearer, delivers about 8 babies and has lots of liver oil.

String ray

The edge of the body is even, and the center is thick. The back is dark brown, and there is irregular black pattern around the body. The body length is regularly 1.5m, and it almost lives in deep water. It is a live-bearer, has one poisoned needle at the end of an anal fin, which gives an acute pain.

Sunfish

Its body shape sometimes changes. The end of a dorsal fin and an anal fin is connected, which seems like a tail fin. The academic name ‘mala’ or the English name ‘sunfish’ or ‘headfish’ is originated from its unique body shape. It spawn the most, up to 200~300 million eggs at a time.

Sawedged perch

The body color is light brown. They have 6 dark grown horizontal lines on the side but old ones do not have any lines. They live in a rocky area in shallow sea 30 meters deep or less. It is said to be most delicious among convict groupers, and it is most delicious in fall and winter.

Red spotted grouper

It has a brown body with several red-brown spots. They mainly live in a rocky area in shallow sea, and the body length is up to 50cm. It is relatively delicious among convict groupers, and most delicious in summer. Red spotted grouper is the standard name. For distinguishing it from Epinephelus fario, Epinephelus fario has 3 prickles at the back of gill cover and red spotted grouper has one.

Sturgeon

It belongs to Teleostei, but has an interesting characteristics that its inner frame is almost composed of cartilage and that it has a notochord which becomes the basis for spine. Caviar, one of top 3 great dishes in the world, is salted sturgeon’s eggs. As its individual number decreases quickly, there are lots of studies on farming.

Sailfish

As its first dorsal fin is large and looks like a sail, it is called as ‘sailfish.’ There are black spots on the dark blue first dorsal fin. The whole length is up to 3.5m, normally 2m. Its meat contains less fat and more fibers, not quite soft, and less popular among similar kinds of fish.

Tile fish

They live on the sandy soil floor about 20~150m deep water. The body length is maximum 35cm. It is carnivorous fish which hibernates by digging a hole on the floor in winter. People fish it with a reel and line with multiple hooks or through dragnet fisheries. As it loses its freshness and easily becomes flat, it is sometimes salted.

Parrot fish

It has 7 black horizontal lines. When getting older, female ones lose these horizontal lines, and their lips become black. Male ones also lose the patterns but they do not completely disappear. They grind and eat benthic animals having hard shells such as sea urchins, turban shells and crustacean. They live in the surface layer forming a group. They are popular to fishermen and good for eating raw fish.

Butterflyfish

Its appearance is similar to chaetodon. It is subtropical species newly reported in the Jeju Coast in the middle of 1990s. Its features are eyes, a black strip crossing the center of a tail fin, and a while edge around the tail fin. The size is about 15cm, and it is popular as an aquarium fish.

Opossum shrimp

Opossum shrimp is a large-sized species, the most important among shrimp family in the fishery science. The maximum body size is up to 25cm, but usually 20cm or less. It has a dark brown pattern with the light brown or blue-grey body. As they are nocturnal, they hide in sandy soil in the daytime and come out at night, eating clam worms or seashells.

Slipper lobster

The body size is 20cm. The body is generally flat and fan-shaped. They live in the mud sand, 100m in depth. People fish them in a trawl-boat or using a ground net, but it is hard to fish them in bulk. As they are relatively fat, people usually roast whole or boil them for appetizer.

Spanner crab

They are large-sized species having 20cm or longer armorer, which is edible, only in Raninidae. They live in a muddy floor in shallow sea with 10~50m in depth. Walking legs are all flat, used for hiding into sands. Eyes move back and forth unlike other crabs, appropriate for hiding in the sand.

Rock lobster

The body length is about 35cm. It belongs to Palinuridae, best-known shrimp, which is important in fishery science with opossum shrimp. They have no striking pattern, and the color changes into clearer red when heating. They live in a rocky area in shallow sea, and gather in holes in a rock or under the rock in the day time.

Champagne crab

It is the biggest species among Xanthidae, the width of a shell is 12cm, nearly pentagon-shaped. It has lots of sharp black prickles, and the forehead is divided into 2 parts by V-shaped groove at the center. The body is light brown with red color, and the end of claws and prickles is black. They live in a rocky areas and in the sea with 50~100m in depth.

Horseshoe crab

Nomenclaturally, it belongs to fauna close to arachnid rather than crustacean. It belongs to Xiphosuran. There are lots of fossil species known about 400 million years ago, but only 4 species are remained today, which is called as ‘living fossil.’ The whole body length is about 60cm, eating clam worms, crustacean and seashells in a muddy floor of shallow sea.