Japanese rice fish
Amazing fact
A male Japanese rice fish stays beside a female while guarding her from another male.
The University of Tokyo
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
A male Japanese rice fish stays beside a female while guarding her from another male.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Japanese rice fish
- Scientific name
- Oryzias latipes
- Japanese name
- ミナミメダカ（メダカ）
- Group
- Freshwater animals
- Order
- Beloniformes
- Family
- Adrianichthyidae
- Genus
- Oryzias
A fish familiar to people in Japan that even appears in a well-known children's song. It lives in small streams, rice paddies, and ponds.
Wild medaka have a dark body color that is hard to spot in a stream. The orange “himedaka” were bred by people for ornamental keeping.
It eats small insects and plankton. Besides Japan, it also lives on the Korean Peninsula and in China and other places.
How the Japanese rice fish lives
During the day, it swims in groups near the water surface. It also eats algae attached to things in the water. The female swims with eggs attached to her body for a while, then attaches them to water plants or similar surfaces.
神奈川県大阪府立環境農林水産総合研究所Basic data
- Size
- Total length: 4 cm
- Diet
- Small insects and plankton
- Range
- Japan, Korean Peninsula, China, and elsewhere
- Conservation status in Japan
- Vulnerable (VU)Ministry of the Environment of Japan, Red List 2020
Where the Japanese rice fish 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
- ミナミメダカ（メダカ）
- 简体中文
- 青鳉
- 繁體中文
- 中華青鱂
- 한국어
- 송사리
- Español
- Pez arroz japonés
- Deutsch
- Medaka
- Português (Brasil)
- Medaka
- Italiano
- Medaka
- العربية
- أورزياس لاتيبس
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Medaka
- Tiếng Việt
- Cá sóc
- Русский
- Японская оризия
- Türkçe
- Medaka
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 葛西臨海水族園 — ミナミメダカChecked: 2026-11-03
- 井の頭自然文化園 — ミナミメダカChecked: 2026-11-03
- 神奈川県 — 淡水魚類図鑑 ミナミメダカChecked: 2026-11-06
- 大阪府立環境農林水産総合研究所 — メダカ (ミナミメダカ)Checked: 2026-11-06
- The University of Tokyo — Stay away from my girlChecked: 2026-11-06
- Ministry of the Environment of Japan, Red List 2020Checked: 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.
The conservation status in Japan is the category in the Red Lists of the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, which assess the risk of extinction for wild animals in Japan.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
Report a mistakeWhen you meet the Japanese rice fish, look for this
- Look at its small mouth and see how the lower jaw extends farther than the upper jaw.
- Compare the fins: males have larger dorsal and anal fins than females.
Animals do different things from day to day, so you may not always see this.
神奈川県大阪府立環境農林水産総合研究所EXHIBIT INFORMATION
Places that keep or show the Japanese rice fish
Zoos, aquariums and other places whose official websites say they keep or show this animal.
Displays can change with the animals’ health and the seasons. Check each facility’s official website before you go.
RELATIVES
Others in Adrianichthyidae
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