Chicken grunt

Amazing fact

When spawning, chicken grunts suddenly rise close to the surface and turn their bodies over.

愛媛県

Chicken grunt in its habitat (illustration)

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An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

When spawning, chicken grunts suddenly rise close to the surface and turn their bodies over.

Source愛媛県 — イサキ

THE REAL WORLD

The real Chicken grunt

Scientific name: Parapristipoma trilineatum
Japanese name: イサキ
Group: Ocean animals

Order: Acanthuriformes
Family: Haemulidae
Genus: Parapristipoma

Facts about the real animal.

Where the name “Chicken grunt” comes from

There is a theory that its Japanese name, isaki, developed from words meaning a fish of rocky shores. Its dorsal fin resembles a chicken comb, so its Japanese name is also written with characters meaning chicken fish.

愛媛県

A fish of shallow rocky reefs along both the Sea of Japan and Pacific coasts of Japan.

鳥羽水族館 — イサキ

It also lives off southern Korea, Jeju Island, Taiwan and southern China.

鳥羽水族館 — イサキ

Young fish have dark brown lengthwise stripes, which fade as they grow.

鳥羽水族館 — イサキ

How the Chicken grunt lives

At night, it rises near the sea surface to feed. As an adult, it eats small fish such as sardines and silver-stripe round herrings. By day, it gathers in groups around seaweed beds and rocky reefs near the coast.

愛媛県

Basic data

Range: Seto Inland Sea, Izu Islands, Yakushima, East China Sea, southern Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, and elsewhere

鳥羽水族館

Where the Chicken grunt has been recorded

Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF

Where it livesJapan Asia Coasts

Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.

Names around the world

日本語: イサキ
简体中文: 三线矶鲈
繁體中文: 三線磯鱸
한국어: 벤자리
Português (Brasil): Roncador-galinha
Русский: Трёхлинейная Парапристипома

Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.

Sources and how we check

鳥羽水族館 — イサキChecked: 2026-11-04
愛媛県 — イサキChecked: 2026-11-07

We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.

The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.

The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.

This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.

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