Kindai University successfully farms blackthroat seaperch

The university plans to serve farmed blackthroat seaperch at its restaurants and sell them to fish farmers within five years.

It aims to establish stable breeding technology and improve breeds.

According to the university's Aquaculture Research Institute in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, researchers successfully hatched eggs in 2016 and produced more than 30,000 young fish in 2023.

In August 2025, they began collecting eggs from five artificially hatched and raised females, and in October 2025, they succeeded in hatching the next generation after hormone administration and artificial insemination.

About 7,000 of the young fish are expected to grow to edible size in about three years.

Much remains unknown about the ecology of blackthroat seaperch.

It is believed that young fish separate into males and females as they grow.

As more than 90 pct of the university's artificial hatchings are male, it remains a challenge to increase the proportion of females.

"I think the market (for farmed blackthroat seaperch) will grow once we begin to supply young fish to aquaculture farmers," said professor Keitaro Kato, head of the institute.