Seafood ── Shellfish and cephalopods
Sumi Ika
a squid with an internal chalky shell in place of cartilage
A squid with a chalky internal shell instead of cartilage. Its flesh stays tender when cooked, springy and thick with a refined sweetness, favored in sushi, stir-fries, and dishes using its ink, said to deepen in flavor winter through spring.
- Squid and octopus
Lineage
What it's made of
A chalky internal shell runs down the cuttlefish's back, standing in for the cartilage other squid rely on. It is a mid-sized squid, its mantle reaching about 18cm and 600g at most, marked with dark brown bands across the body and a silver stripe at the base of its fins. Its flesh runs thicker than most squid, staying springy and tender even after cooking rather than turning rubbery, with a refined sweetness that deepens the more you chew. That makes it prized for sushi, stir-fries, and dishes built around its own ink.
How it's made
Caught incidentally in bottom trawls and gillnets, but the more targeted method is a squid-pot fishery aimed at large adults moving inshore to spawn, said to be especially important in bays like Shimabara in the Ariake Sea. Landings are reportedly best around 10-15°C with seafloor salinity holding steady in the 33-34 range, targeting cuttlefish that live on sandy, muddy bottoms 10 to 100 meters down. Its spring habit of laying eggs on inshore rocks and seaweed shapes how the fishery is timed.
Why it took this shape
From early spring through early summer, cuttlefish head into sheltered bays to lay eggs on rocks and seaweed, and the shallow, weed-rich waters of the Seto Inland Sea are said to make an ideal spawning ground. Calm bay conditions rich in small fish and shrimp are thought to be what lets the flesh grow so thick, one likely reason the fishery has long been active along the Okayama coast. The April-to-May window just before spawning, prized as its peak season, traces back to that same coastal environment.
Before You Go
- How to shop at a supermarketHow to choose prepared foods, sashimi, and packaged sushi, when discount stickers tend to appear, region-only specialties, buying by weight, the checkout and bagging flow, and sampling etiquette at a local supermarket.
- Roadside stations, direct-sale stands, and marketsHow to enjoy buying food near where it's produced, visiting and shopping at morning markets and fish markets, what to expect at farm stands, and finding local food at roadside stations (michi-no-eki).
- Foods to look for in winterA guide to foods often seen in Japan around winter — nabe hot pot, fugu, oysters, crab, year-end soba, and osechi — with rough pointers for finding them.
Dishes in the same style
- Aori IkaA large squid whose fin skirts the entire body. Its translucent flesh carries strong sweetness and a thick, dense texture, making it one of the pricier squid at market, best raw as sashimi or sushi, in season summer through autumn.
- Hotaru IkaA small squid about 5cm long with light-producing organs. Its rise to shallow water to spawn each spring is a well-known seasonal sight. Eaten whole, guts included, boiled and dressed in vinegar-miso for a rich, faintly bitter taste.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Known source
- Known source: Okayama, Okayama
The shallow, baitfish-rich waters of the Seto Inland Sea are a notable fishing ground.
Contrast
- Hotaru IkaA small squid about 5cm long with light-producing organs. Its rise to shallow water to spawn each spring is a well-known seasonal sight. Eaten whole, guts included, boiled and dressed in vinegar-miso for a rich, faintly bitter taste.
- Surume IkaJapan's most heavily landed squid, named for the dried surume snack it is often turned into. Raw, it has a crisp bite and mild sweetness, used everywhere from sashimi to overnight-dried snacks, with fishing peaking in autumn and winter.