Japanese Rice Fish (Freshwater Fish Pictorial Book 1, revised release, by Yujin)

This figure is the Japanese Rice Fish (or Medaka or Japanese Killifish), Oryzias latipes, number 11 from the first series. This is the only beloniforme fish in the set; this order includes other surface-oriented fish like flying fish, needlefish and halfbeaks (but, not killifish—taxonomy can be weird). The Japanese Rice fish is found throughout Eastern Asia*, living in a wide range of shallow and slow-moving bodies of water like rice paddies, marshes, streams and tidal pools (it is a fresh- and brackish-water fish). Japanese Rice fish have been popular in aquariums for centuries, and their ease of care and short genome means that they are currently used by biologists for a number of different studies. The Yujin model (and other sources) states that the normal size is around 4cm.

*One thing that I learned since the original writing above is the Oryzias latipes has been split into a few other species. O. latipes refers specifically to the species found throughout much of Japan; in northwestern Honshu, the species O. sakaizumii is recognized (although it hybridizes with O. latipes) and the mainland species is now recognized as the Chinese rice fish O. sinensis, and other populations such as the eastern Korean and Laos populations might also be separate, related species. Overall, the behaviour and habits are similar among the species. They are schooling fish, and apparently can recognize other individuals of the same species.

Japanese rice fish are surface predators, and are a species that is widely recognized for preying on mosquitos. Japanese rice fish are IUCN listed as Least Concern, and have in fact been introduced to Hokkaido (where there are no Oryzias species), very likely influenced by their usefulness with mosquitos. Other introduced populations throughout Asia, once thought to be Japanese rice fish, are more likely O. sinensis.

This model is about 5 cm long, making the figure roughly 1:1 (maybe even as much as 2:1, as they can be as small as 3.2cm). The figure is a bright little yellow one, and it’s easy to see why a real one would be popular in aquariums. The scales and fin rays are distinct; the longitudinal stripe, silver belly and big eyes are well painted, and the paint on them is nice and crisp. In many ways, the paint and colours (the yellow colour is the actual colour of the PVC) are almost idealized, the real animals tend to be a little more subdued—but it looks nicer on display! The base for this one is the grey wood stem, which, given the surface-swimming tendency, makes more sense than a stream-bottom of some sort. I am absolutely that this figure has been made by Kaiyodo a few times—definitely in Capsule sets, Animatales and ChocoQ. There are probably other ones as well that I don’t know—it’s always good to be wrong!

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.