Pepperfish!

The Pepperfish is not really a fish but rather an amphibian and a rather stinky one at that. The site JapanSugoi usually deals with Idols and bizarre Japanese fetishes but occasionally a scientific article creeps in. This time they deal with the Oosanshouo or Pepperfish. I have made note of the Giant Salamander before and have taken my email address from it. (Note: many of the links in that old blog entry have been rendered dead but this one is still up and running and has lots of info, albeit in Japanese.) I've linked to the original article but there is so much cool stuff in it, I'm going to scam some of the photos and the YouTubes. (Even more YouTubes at that link!)

This National Geographic video tells of the plight and possible salvation of the Oosanshouo: This one from Animal Planet covers some of the same ground yet speculates that it is the origin of the Kappa, my favourite 妖怪 (Yokai)! I would pay some real money for a print of this Ukiyoe painting of オオサンショウウオ if anyone comes across it! (Not sure what this says but it appears to be info about the origin of this painting. 「岩沼吉六郎 信里」：出典・典拠については不詳。「半上弾正忠 新景」：「絵本武者飛馬始」（天明８年）にみられる富士川における人を食う魚である「はんざけ」退治が元ネタと思われる。 なお、「はんざけ（ハンザキ）」はオオサンショウウオの別名であり、「半分に引き裂いてもまだ生きている」という意味による異称。)

For that matter, I think these froggy ones are pretty cool too! Plenty of awesome fishy paintings here!