A white-fleshed fish with high fat content, cobia is suitable for various cooking methods, including sashimi, sushi, and processed or seasoned dishes.
Photo: Adobe Stock.
The world's largest seafood company, Japan's Maruha Nichiro - which next year will change its corporate name to Umios - announced that it will commercialize a new aquaculture species: cobia. Starting in May 2025, the company will begin trial sales of this high-fat white-fleshed fish known in Japan as "sugi."
Although its farming is still in the experimental period, with this development, Maruha Nichiro seeks to establish cobia as the fourth key pillar of aquaculture after bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna, and greater amberjack (kanpachi) by integrating production and sales across the group.
The company began trial aquaculture of cobia -"sugi" - in June 2024.
Photo: Maruha Nichiro.
A fast-growing species
"The aquaculture industry is currently facing challenges such as slower fish growth and increased disease risks due to rising seawater temperatures, as well as soaring feed costs. In response to these difficulties, Maruha Nichiro, committed to ensuring a stable supply of sustainable protein, began trial aquaculture of 'sugi' in June 2024." This is how Maruha Nichiro explained the reason that has led the company to include a new species in its farmed fish catalog.
Highly resistant to high temperatures - prefers water temperatures above 20°C and adapts well to temperatures above 30°C in summer -, in the wild, it is found from southern Japan to Taiwan and the southern coast of China, and has the advantage that it can be farmed in a short period.
Cobia reaches 4-5 kg in weight - the commercial size - in just one year. To put this in perspective with other popular aquaculture species, salmon takes a year and a half to reach half that weight, and a turbot takes two years and four months to reach 2.3 kg.
It is, therefore, a species attractive to the aquaculture industry in that, thanks to its rapid growth, it needs less production inputs than others to reach the commercialization phase, and all this added to a taste similar to species such as the Hawaiian mahi-mahi.
Also known as black king, black kingfish, black salmon, butterfish or crab eater, according to Japanese website Sushi University, so far, cobia or "sugi" is mainly used as an ingredient in fish paste products, but also in Japanese dishes such as sashimi, grilled with salt or teriyaki, and is starting to be used in conveyor-belt sushi restaurants as well.
Sashimi of farmed cobia from Japanese Maruha Nichiro.
Photo: Maruha Nichiro.
However, Sushi University also says that, due to its small distribution, it is a fish not yet well known as food fish. The latter is something that Maruha Nichiro seems keen to remedy since, as mentioned above, the Japanese seafood giant - which already farms bluefin tuna, yellowtail, and greater amberjack, and, together with Mitsubishi Corporation, is also working on the development of other species such as salmon - wants to make cobia its fourth key pillar of aquaculture production.
Thus, after having been growing it experimentally since June 2024 at its AQUA Amami Facility - in Setouchi Town, Oshima District, Kagoshima Prefecture - starting in May 2025, the company will take advantage of its various distribution channels to gradually launch trial sales.
Sold mainly to mass retailers and the foodservice industry through Maruha Nichiro and markets nationwide in Japan, according to the company's announcement, to meet the demand it expects to achieve, the target for this 2025 is to produce 10,000 fish, but the ultimate objective will be to produce 100,000 fish annually by fiscal year 2027.
In addition, it plans to obtain ASC certification, a global recognition for responsibly farmed aquaculture products, considering environmental and human rights factors. It will also focus on fingerling production using the expertise of Maruha Nichiro's Aquaculture Technology Development Center.
To conclude its release, Maruha Nichiro said that, as a longstanding leader in the aquaculture industry, it will continue to challenge itself with the development of new species and fast-growing fish. "The company is committed to addressing issues in the domestic and international aquaculture industry in a sustainable manner while also contributing to the revitalization of local communities where aquaculture facilities are located," it concluded.
