📸 PhotoPhoto: muir · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Hawaiian ladyfish
Elops hawaiensis (Hawaiian ladyfish · カライワシ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 It is a sportfishing target that can be caught on light tackle, and in some areas it is used for fishmeal (FishBase).
- 💡 Its maximum length of 1.2 m is about the height of a lower-grade elementary school child (Comparison). Its maximum weight of 10.1 kg is about the weight of a single 10 kg bag of rice (Comparison).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Hawaiian ladyfish is a silvery fish living in coastal waters and estuaries of warm seas, swimming swiftly in schools.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body is an elongated spindle shape, silvery white, and covered with tiny scales. It has a bony gular plate between the lower jaws and lacks spines in all of its fins.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It feeds on small fishes, fish eggs, and crustaceans, and spawns in the sea, passing through a leptocephalus larval stage before becoming an adult.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
The National List of Species of Korea records it as inhabiting Jinhae and Busan in Korea.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List DD (2022) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/194307/89802726
- • IUCN Red List category DD — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 39CJ5
- • iucnredlist.org — 89802726
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000057399 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000057399
- • wikidata.org — Q2998299
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Elops hawaiensis.jpg
- • fishbase.se — Elops-hawaiensis.html
- • species.nibr.go.kr — list
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.