Huchen (Freshwater Fish Pictorial Book, Series 1, revised release by Yujin)

This figure is the Japanese Huchen, also known as Sakhalin taimen, Parahucho perryi (apparently, renamed from Hucho), number 06 from the first series. This primitive member of the trout and salmon family is found in limited areas of the northwest Pacific—Hokkaido island in Japan, the Russian Sakhelin Island, and far-eastern portions of mainland Russia. This is also one of the largest living salmonids, the Yujin model said 100cm, but they have been found at 200cm. Unfortunately this large fish is under a great deal of direct and indirect pressure and is considered critically endangered; some captive breeding is done in Japan.

Huchen inhabit deeper and middle parts of rivers and lakes. As seems to be the case with most salmonids, Huchen can either be anadromous or entirely landlocked. Younger fish are insectivores, but fish over 30cm are strictly piscivores. Fishing for them is popular, but poaching is a major issue.

This model is about 8 cm long, making the figure roughly 1:25 (if using the 100cm length, it is 1:13, on par with the previous few salmonids). The figure itself is an adult male (although they can change sex) in a fairly straight pose, with a much smaller curve than many of the other salmonid figures from Yujin. The colour is very well-done, reflecting the spotted sides with a distinct shading from green to white on the sides. This one is on the brown version of the river rock base. I am pretty certain that the only other Huchen models are likely from Kaiyodo—the only one I could find is the Aquatales Polystone series, and it almost looks too trout-ish to me. The Yujin captures the long-bodied appearance of the Hucho better (but that’s just my opinion), it’s just too bad about the very visible seam. edit There are actually a few other figures of this animal, all Japanese. Kaiyodo made at least a couple with different Furuta Animatales series (in breeding and normal colours), as well as with the revised Colorata River Life box set.

Like the Chum Salmon model, the Japanese huchen also comes in two separate pieces (the split is just behind the dorsal, with a pelvic fin on each piece). In the case of this one, the straight-line longest model, that makes sense for fitting into whatever the original package was.

Starting on the 14th of January, 2024, I migrated my first Yujin Freshwater Fish Pictorial walkaround post from the Animal Toy Forum to this blog, with the intention of moving all species’/figures’ walkarounds here. The initial post contained a lengthy explanation of the series (both the original and updated) that I don’t think should be repeated each time! For those details, the post can be seen at the first post. Then we can just get to the fish. Most of the details and writing will come from the original post, although I may supplement/add where appropriate.