False kelpfish

Amazing fact

False kelpfish eggs hatch inside the mother, and the young are born as baby fish.

京都府立海洋センター

False kelpfish in its habitat (illustration)

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An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

False kelpfish eggs hatch inside the mother, and the young are born as baby fish.

Source京都府立海洋センター — 丹後の海の生き物（カサゴ）

THE REAL WORLD

The real False kelpfish

Scientific name: Sebastiscus marmoratus
Japanese name: カサゴ
Group: Ocean animals

Order: Scorpaeniformes
Family: Sebastidae
Genus: Sebastiscus

Facts about the real animal.

It lives in rocky places near the shore.

鳥羽水族館 — カサゴ

It lives along the coasts from Hokkaido to Kyushu, and in the seas around Korea, China and Taiwan.

鳥羽水族館 — カサゴ

How the False kelpfish lives

It becomes more active at night. It eats crustaceans such as shrimp. Its body colour blends into the background, so it may go unnoticed until you come close. After mating in autumn, females store sperm inside their bodies.

京都府立海洋センター鴨川シーワールド

Basic data

Range: Pacific coast and Sea of Japan and East China Sea from Hokkaido to southern Kyushu, Seto Inland Sea, Korea, China, Taiwan, and elsewhere

鳥羽水族館

Where the False kelpfish 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: カサゴ
简体中文: 石狗公
繁體中文: 石狗公
한국어: 쏨뱅이
Español: Rocote jaspeado
Português (Brasil): Cantarilho-mármore
Русский: Мраморный морской окунёк

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 — カサゴChecked: 2026-11-04
鴨川シーワールド — Vol.201～カサゴ～Checked: 2026-11-07
京都府立海洋センター — 丹後の海の生き物（カサゴ）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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