Cobia

Amazing fact

Cobia are found near objects in the water, such as buoys and sunken ships.

NOAA Fisheries

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An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

Cobia are found near objects in the water, such as buoys and sunken ships.

SourceNOAA Fisheries — Cobia

THE REAL WORLD

The real Cobia

Scientific name: Rachycentron canadum
Japanese name: スギ
Group: Ocean animals

Order: Carangiformes
Family: Rachycentridae
Genus: Rachycentron

Facts about the real animal.

It lives in Japanese seas from Hokkaido to Kyushu, and in the Indo-West Pacific, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

鳥羽水族館 — スギ

It is said to be close to the remoras, but it has no sucker on its head.

鳥羽水族館 — スギ

Like a remora, it sometimes swims along with large fish.

鳥羽水族館 — スギ

How the Cobia lives

In the southeastern United States, they spawn in coastal bays and estuaries in summer. They mainly eat crustaceans, and also catch fish and squid. Adults travel alone or in small groups. Along the Atlantic coast, they move south and offshore toward warmer water in late autumn and winter.

NOAA Fisheries

Basic data

Range: Southern Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, Hainan, Spratly Islands, Indo-West Pacific, Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and elsewhere

鳥羽水族館

Where the Cobia 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 World oceans Ocean

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: スギ
简体中文: 军曹鱼
繁體中文: 海鱺
한국어: 날새기
Español: Cobia
Français: Cobia
Deutsch: Cobia
Português (Brasil): Rachycentridae
Italiano: Cobia
العربية: سكل
Bahasa Indonesia: Ikan Cobia
Tiếng Việt: Cobia
Русский: Кобия
ไทย: ปลาช่อนทะเล
اردو: سنگرا مچھلی

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 — スギChecked: 2026-11-04
NOAA Fisheries — CobiaChecked: 2026-11-06

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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