ウマヅラハギ

Meanings

black scraper; thread-sail filefish

usually written using kana alone

A species of filefish (Stephanolepis cirrhifer) found in coastal waters of Japan and East Asia. The name literally means 'horse-face peeler', referring to its elongated snout and rough skin that was traditionally used like sandpaper.

ウマヅラハギは冬ふゆが旬しゅんの魚さかなです。
Black scraper is a fish in season during winter.
ウマヅラハギの肝きもは美味おいしい。
The liver of the black scraper is delicious.

Kanji

馬horse
面mask, face, features
剥come off, peel, fade
剝come off, peel, fade

Related words

カワハギ
A closely related filefish species (thread-sail filefish, Stephanolepis cirrhifer) often confused with ウマヅラハギ. カワハギ has a shorter snout and is more commonly eaten.

Written forms

うまづらはぎ
Hiragana spelling, also common.
馬うま面づら剥はぎ
Rare kanji spelling; the first character means 'horse', the second 'face', and the third 'peel' or 'strip', referring to the fish's rough skin.
馬うま面づら剝はぎ
Variant kanji spelling using 剝 instead of 剥; both are rare.

Etymology

The name ウマヅラハギ literally means 'horse-face peeler', from 馬 (horse) + 面 (face) + 剥ぎ (peeling). This refers to the fish's elongated snout resembling a horse's face and its rough skin, which was historically used as sandpaper after being peeled off.