Squid, octopus and cuttlefish belong to a large group of marine invertebrates called cephalopods. The word means foot-headed, and it is an appropriate name for these creatures because their tentacle feet sprout from above their eyes and brain. They are found all over, and sometimes in the stomachs of whales that has just finished lunch.
Hotaru-ika squid from the Toyama coast
There are more than 500 varieties of squid and cuttlefish, of which two dozen are commonly eaten around the world. About half the total global squid haul is caught and consumed in Japan. To supplement the native catch an additional 200,000 tons are imported, mostly from Australia and New Zealand, making up one-third of the Japanese market.
The Japanese word ika does not distinguish between squid and cuttlefish. The flesh of the two is similar; the anatomy differing in the shape and composition of the inner shell. In squid, this hard plastic-like shell is called a pen. Cuttlefish have a more substantial inner shell, referred to as a bone. This cuttlebone has several commercial uses, while the squid's pen is generally thrown out.
Ika is generally written with phonetic kana characters, most likely because of the unusual kanji characters it has been assigned. It is written "thieving crow," because the bird has been known to swoop down and grab squid as they float lazily on the ocean's surface or hang on the massive drying racks used to make the jerky-like surume-ika.
The largest cephalopod is the giant squid, which can grow up to 17 meters. One of the smallest (3-5 cm) is the "sparkling enop" squid — called, fittingly, in Japanese hotaru-ika (firefly squid). The phenomenal sight of millions of little hotaru-ika in Toyama Bay occurs just before the cherry blossoms every year. From the deep waters off the coast, they come near the surface to mate and, in the process, they glow, illuminating the sea like a field of lightning bugs. Tourists from all over sign up for evening-boat rides to see the performance, which can only be witnessed along this portion of Japan's western coast in the spring of each year. Just as the nanohana marks the arrival of spring, the diminutive hotaru-ika signals the changing of the seasons.
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