AltJapan: Cult of Clione

March 17, 2007

Cult of Clione

Spotted in the murky depths of Tokyo's Asakusa district: a life-support system for clione (pronounced "clee-oh-nay"). What's a clione? According to Wikipedia, they're "gelatinous, mostly transparent pteropods." Hungry yet? In layman's terms, they're a tiny, obscure species of cold-water marine invertebrate. They also happen to be the subject of a national obsession in Japan, where they've been elevated to the status of "angels of the sea." These specimens were on display at a shop specializing in Hokkaido foods and other northern souvenirs.

Clione are a staple of Japanese nature documentaries and trivia shows. Which would be intriguing enough, given the unassuming nature of the little beasts, but there's actually a surprisingly robust market for clione-related merchanidse here as well. Takara-Tomy produced one in their Aqua Night Museum series, Sapporo beer packaged tiny figures of them with cans of beer as part of their Hokkaido Figure Collection, Sanrio made a Hello Kitty clione, and for the truly obsessed, there's even ephemera such as clione jewelry, clione night-lights, and clione ear-cleaners. Not bad for a creature that's smaller than a human pinky. Can you imagine Budweiser packaging "action figures" of zooplankton with their booze in America? This is yet another reason I love living in Japan.

Here's a close-up view of one of the little guys (gals?) You can find a clearer shot on this university website, which also includes footage of clione in action. Here's another for those who can't get enough. And in response to a popular question: no, to the best of my knowledge, the Japanese do not consume clione. Which isn't to say no one's ever tried. Mmm.... Clione sashimi.

Mar 17, 2007 7:29:13 PM

7 Comments

Waiter! There's something swimming in my water glass.

That's your appetiser sir.

Posted by: Gilles Poitras | March 17, 2007 at 10:41 PM

Hey Matt!
some fun bits..
1. Pteropods are basically shell-less mobile sea slugs that are distantly related to nudibranchs.

2. They are hermaphrodites (the he/she question)

3. "Clione" is actually a latin word..named for the Greek sea nymph "Kleios", who was the daughter of Oceanus, a muse who protected art and science. Its actually supposed to be italicized when used like most Greek/latin words are..

4. There ain't much of a Clione to eat. Its mostly water and gelatinous snot.

COOL! thanks again Matt!

Posted by: ChrisM | March 17, 2007 at 11:31 PM