Japanese common squid; Pacific flying squid
Todarodes pacificus, a commercially important squid species in Japan. Often dried to make surume (するめ).
Japanese common squid are often caught in the waters around Japan.
They dry Japanese common squid to make surume.
Usually written in katakana; the kanji form 鯣烏賊 is rare and mainly seen in specialized contexts.
Hiragana spelling is also used, but katakana is more common for this animal name.
Rare kanji spelling; the characters are not commonly used in everyday writing.
The name スルメイカ comes from するめ (dried squid) + イカ (squid), as this species is commonly used to make surume. The kanji 鯣烏賊 are ateji; 鯣 means 'dried squid' and 烏賊 is the kanji for 'squid'.