Glirulus japonicus

No.27 Japanese Dormouse

Glirulus japonicus is a type of arboreal, nocturnal rodent called a dormouse. Similar to both mice and squirrels, it has thick brown hair, a fluffy tail, and a black stripe on its back. It grows to lengths of 105-135 mm and have sharp claws on its feet that enable it to run upside-down on tree branches. Glirulus japonicus resides in deciduous and coniferous forests across Japan, except on the island of Hokkaido. Once considered to be Shinto guardian deities of the mountain, they are now listed as “nearly endangered” by the Ministry of Environment in Japan due to deforestation.

Branchiostoma japonicum

No.05 Japanese lancelet

Branchiostoma japonicum is a species of lancelet (or “amphioxus”) that belongs to a subphylum of Chordata called Cephalochordata. Members of this subphylum are translucent, resemble fish, and retain their notochord into adulthood, but have no true vertebrae or skeleton. Because of their morphology and their phylogenetic closeness to chordates, lancelets are important in studies of vertebrate evolution. Japanese lancelets grow up to 5 cm long and live in subtidal zones where they anchor themselves in sand and filter-feed using their cilia. This lancelet is primarily found in Japanese waters but has also been found in waters near Xiamen, China.

Clypeaster japonicus

No.18 Japanese Sea Biscuit

Clypeaster japonicus is a species of sea urchin called a sea biscuit. Sea biscuits are irregular echinoids, meaning they have a definite front and back and move in a specific direction. Its brown calcium carbonate shell, or test, is in the shape of a pentagon, features a five-petaled “flower” on its surface, and is up to 12 cm across. The spines of Clypeaster japonicus are short and resemble small hairs. Found in Japanese waters around the islands of Honshu and Kyushu, Japanese sea biscuits live buried in sediment and emerge at night to feed on sediment food particles.

Anguilla japonica

No.08 Japanese eel

Anguilla japonica is a commercially important species of eel in East Asia. This species grows to about one meter long and can be found in China, Japan, the Philippines, Korea, and Taiwan. Japanese eels spend their lives in both saltwater and freshwater, spawning in the sea west of the Mariana Islands and migrating to freshwater estuaries, rivers, and lakes to develop. During this migration, eel fry are collected to be raised in commercial fisheries. Anguilla japonica is currently listed as an endangered species as the result of overfishing and changing ocean salinity conditions at its spawning site.