Coilia nasus, or C. ectenes, also known as the 'Japanese grenadier anchovy', is classified under the actinopterygii (ray-finned fished), clupeiformes (herrings) and engraulidae (anchovies).It derives its name coilio from the Greek koilia, meaning hollow abdomen. It measures a maximum of 41 cm for a male, and is found in marine, freshwater, brackish, pelagic-neritic and anadromous water at a depth of 50 m from 42 degrees northern latitude to 21 degrees latitude, and 109 degrees longitude east to 134 degrees east. It is distributed in the northwest Pacific, from Guangdong in China to the Ariake Sound in Japan.