Saury with a slender, extended, rod-shaped, laterally compressed body; a sickle-shaped muzzle, large eyes, anteriorly positioned mouth, and the lower jaw is slightly longer than the upper; the dorsal and anal fins are situated at the rear of the body and have no hard spines; the ventral fins are situated slightly behind the centre of the body, and the caudal fins are deeply forked with a deep blue dorsal area, silvery grey abdomen, and a slight yellowish tinge on the end of the muzzle and posterior part of the caudal peduncle; the dorsal fins, the smallest fins, and the caudal fins are greyish brown. The pectoral fins are light grey, and the anal and ventral fins are white. The body shape is long and slender like a sword, and it is abundant in autumn, hence its name.
It is a cold-water oceanic migratory fish, preferring clusters and often inhabiting waters with a water temperature of 15-18 degrees Celsius. It mainly feeds on copepods, crustaceans, cephalopods and fish eggs. They love to breed in spring and autumn, laying sticky eggs under floating algae on the surface, and have a life span of about 3-4 years.
In Japan, in addition to eel (e.g. frozen grilled eel, bbq eel frozen, or frozen roasted eel), saury is also a favourite seafood food, which is very popular among Japanese people because of its high quality and low price, and it is also a classic food in Japanese sushi restaurants. The well-known Japanese writer Haruo Sato appreciated the saury in his poem, 'saury, saury, eating saury dripping with lime sour sauce is the custom of this person's hometown.' With its flat nature and sweet taste, saury is known for preventing high blood pressure, enhancing brain power, improving anaemia, strengthening eyesight and slowing down the ageing process. Its fat, although fat, but is benign cholesterol, and will not make people overweight, beauty ladies can also be assured of eating. In addition, the saury can be soaked in vinegar, fried, steamed, deep-fried, salt grilled, grilled, but also eaten raw.