Japanese bigeye

Amazing fact

The Japanese bigeye eats by taking food from below.

沖縄美ら海水族館

Japanese bigeye in its habitat (illustration)

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An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

The Japanese bigeye eats by taking food from below.

Source沖縄美ら海水族館 — クルマダイ

THE REAL WORLD

The real Japanese bigeye

Scientific name: Pristigenys niphonia
Japanese name: クルマダイ
Group: Ocean animals

Order: Priacanthiformes
Family: Priacanthidae
Genus: Pristigenys

Facts about the real animal.

Where the name “Japanese bigeye” comes from

Its Japanese name comes from its tall, rounded body resembling a wheel. The name niphonia comes from a word for Japan, referring to the species being described from Nagasaki.

新潟市水族館マリンピア日本海 Museums Victoria

It lives in the seas of southern Japan and the Senkaku Islands, and across the Indian Ocean and western Pacific.

鳥羽水族館 — クルマダイ

Adults are found in deep water.

鳥羽水族館 — クルマダイ

How the Japanese bigeye lives

Young fish live in shallower water than adults.

Museums Victoria

Basic data

Range: Southern Japan, Senkaku Islands, and Indo-West Pacific

鳥羽水族館

Where the Japanese bigeye has been recorded

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

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: クルマダイ
简体中文: 日本大鳞大眼鲷
繁體中文: 日本大鱗大眼鯛
한국어: 둥글돔
Português (Brasil): Olho-de-cão-listrado-do-norte
Русский: Крупночешуйный японский бычеглаз
ไทย: ปลาตาหวานบั้งขาว

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 — クルマダイChecked: 2026-11-04
沖縄美ら海水族館 — クルマダイChecked: 2026-11-07
新潟市水族館マリンピア日本海 — クルマダイChecked: 2026-11-07
Museums Victoria — Whiteband Bigeye, Pristigenys niphonia (Cuvier 1829)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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