📸 PhotoPhoto: 更井 順則 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Tokyo bitterling
Pseudorhodeus tanago (Tokyo bitterling · Tokyo bitterling)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its maximum total length of 5 cm is about twice the diameter of a Korean 500-won coin (about 2.65 cm) (Comparison).
- 💡 It is an endangered species living only in mountain freshwaters of Japan's Kanto region (FishBase).
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.
📖 1. Overview
The Tokyo bitterling is a small freshwater fish endemic to the Kanto region of Japan, assessed as Endangered (EN, 2019) by the IUCN.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Even when fully grown, it is a small fish around 5 cm in total length.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Bitterlings generally lay their eggs inside the gills of freshwater mussels, and this species is conserved in enclosed river pools. Fifteen (15) of the 16 bitterling species in Japan are on the Japanese Red List, mainly due to urbanization, river channelization, and the decline of freshwater mussels.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List EN (2019) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/21383/110464790
- • IUCN Red List category EN — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — D5DXK
- • iucnredlist.org — 110464790
- • wikidata.org — Q116179568
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:ミヤコタナゴ.jpg
- • fishbase.se — Pseudorhodeus-tanago.html
- • pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov — PMC6375628
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Carlos Cano-Barbacil · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Luciobarbus graellsii)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.