Taxonomy & naming
Katayama and Taki described the species in 1984 from Urado Bay in Kochi Prefecture. It belongs to Latidae, the lates perches, and the epithet means of Japan. Japanese anglers and fish markets know it as akame.
Morphology
A large, heavy-bodied perch. FishBase gives a maximum of 51 in TL for males or unsexed fish.
Habitat
Japan, in the northwest Pacific between about 24 and 45 degrees north. FishBase classes it as marine, freshwater and brackish, and demersal, in a subtropical range. Juveniles ascend rivers.
Feeding
Diet is not documented in the sources available to the atlas.
Mating
Courtship has not been described for this species.
Breeding
Breeding in the wild has not been documented in the sources available to the atlas. FishBase notes that the species is commercially cultured in Japan.
In the aquarium
Sold by one partner store, as juveniles. A fish that reaches 51 in is a public-aquarium animal, and a home tank can hold it only while it is small. FishBase gives no temperature, pH or hardness range for the species, and the atlas records none.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List classes Lates japonicus as Vulnerable, meaning it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild. No assessment year is recorded in the sources available to the atlas.