Nature Technicolour Clear Rivers in Japan No. 08 - Kajika/Japanese Fluvial Sculpin (Cottus pollux)

Moving on to number 8, it's the Kajika or Japanese Fluvial Sculpin. The genus Cottus is the predominant sculpin genus found in freshwater, and I personally have a soft spot for any benthic, goby-looking fish because they seem to have more character than any pelagic fish, especially the way they carefully hop around the substrate, it's like you can hear their little brains thinking as they are carefully consider every move they make. Very endearing.

Not much I can tell about the Kajika, except I've read a really interesting Japanese old fishing manga (Tsurikichi Sanpei, anyone knows?) where there was a particular chapter about a unique way to hunt Kajika. What Sanpei (the titular character of the manga) did was he went into the shallow streams where the Kajika lives in the middle of the night, carrying a lantern/light, a 2 feet-long thin fork, and a floating rectangular wooden box with a glass bottom, where he used the box as some kind of periscope to clearly see the bottom of the stream from above water. He then slowly and stealthily wade along the stream until he sees a Kajika resting on the substrate through the glass bottom of the box, and then using the fork deftly pierced the fish. No catch and release here, this was fishing for food.

As always with this particular series, attention was paid to the minutest of details. Colours are very realistic, both on the body and the flecks on the fins. The fins even have the correct number of rays for this particular species. Even to the way shape the curve of the body and the slight angles on the dorsal and caudal fins makes this bottom-dwelling model look dynamic.

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WOW !!!! What a magnificent model

I would not be surprised if it moves and turns the eyes round to look at me

Beautieful fish figurine :)

Beautiful figurine again and excellent topic about fishes, manga and accuracy thank you

It seems perfect and your presentation give surely justice to it!

It's a funny fish--the Japanese call it "God of the Mountain" although I do not know why! Overall sculpins are a neat group of fish.